Keith Potger visit

We had a VIP visitor at school this morning. Keith Potger, founding member of The Seekers, Australian music royalty and ex-SKiPPS student visited alongside his childhood friend Daniel Beebe. Both Keith and Daniel attended St Kilda Park over 70 years ago and graduated in 1952.

Our Year 5/6 students loved hearing about school life in the 1950s (including the 'strap') and asking questions about Keith's music career. Keith and Daniel then enjoyed a school tour with memories of ringing the bell, their classmates, identifying their classrooms and signing some records for staff members!

Swimming

Last week you would have received communications from Compass and on paper regarding our 2023 school swimming program.

The program will be taking place immediately after the upcoming school holidays - in weeks 1 and 2 of next term. All students from Foundation to Year 6 will travel to MSAC each day for a swimming and water safety lesson. Students in F-2 will have a 30-minute lesson each day and this will be 45 minutes for our older students (3-6).

Swimming is an important component of our Health and Physical Education Program and it is an expectation that all of our students participate in the program.

We ask families to promptly make payment and provide consent on Compass for the swimming program by Tuesday of next week (20th June) to allow us to confirm numbers and arrangements with the pool and the bus company before the school holidays. We also ask you to return a paper medical and consent form to their child's teacher.

As always, we are determined that no student will miss out on the swimming program for financial reasons and are ready to support those families who may need financial help to allow their child to attend. Please contact me on neil.scott@education.vic.gov.au if you require financial support.

SKiPPS Gala Night

With no school fete happening in 2023, our major social and fundraising event of the year is our annual Parent Gala Night.

This will be taking place at St Kilda Town Hall on the evening of Saturday 5th August.

For those new to the school, the event is a chance to let your hair down, connect with other parents and carers with live trivia, live music, food, drink and lots of making merry for the best possible cause.

Further details and the link for ticket sales will be shared next week but please put the date into diaries and book the babysitter now.

End-of-Term Arrangements

We are now only just over a week away from the end of term 2 - at which point we will be halfway through the school year!

School will finish on Friday 23rd June at 2:30pm and we encourage families to make arrangements for this early finish. Team Kids will be operating from this time.

As you will read later in the newsletter, we also have a great winter celebration to end the term with. Our wonderful Parents' Association SKIPPA will be running a hot chocolate and biscuit stall in the quadrangle at 2:30pm on the day and we encourage you to hang around and finish the term with a treat!

If you can help out with the stall, please sign up for a slot at https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B094BABA62EA3F85-biscuit

Winter Wellness event reminder

Our first-ever Winter Wellness day is taking place TOMORROW (Thurday 15th June). It is not too late to buy tickets and get involved with this wonderful and restorative school activity.

Yesterday myself, Rosemary (SKiPPS parent and the incredible event organiser) and Nova (one of our wonderful parents and a facilitator of a session on the day) were invited onto the Joy FM Drivetime show to talk about the event and the importance of looking after your wellness, especially during winter.

We really hope that lots of SKiPPS parents and carers can make it along, for one session or many, however the day is open for everyone so feel free to invite a friend or share the link with others.

Further details can be found later in the newsletter and tickets are at https://compasstix.com/event/30a67630-779d-4288-bf22-89610ce5362e

Team Kids winter holiday program

TeamKids have another amazing Winter Holiday program planned for our upcoming school holidays.

Learn new skills and make new friends
Qualified and REMARKABLE Educators
Digital detox with our no screens policy
Delicious and nutritious morning and afternoon snacks
CCS-approved care

Head to teamkids.com.au to secure your spot!

Dads' Camp - save the date

Our parent-run Dads' Camp is taking place again this year at the Big4 Campsite in Wye River.

Whilst final arrangements are being put into place by the organising group of dads, they would like you to clear the decks and put the weekend of the 1st - 3rd December into your diaries.

Mums may want to start organising their child-free plans for that weekend!

Further details and booking information will follow later in the year.

End of Tax Year - reminder of our tax deductible funds

With the end of the tax year approaching, we know that some families will be looking at options to make gifts and donations to provide them with tax deductions.

The school operates two DGR (Deductible Gift Recipient) funds and we would welcome any donations that families may be willing and able to make. Doing so provides huge benefits to the school and can also give tax benefits to the person making the donation.

We operate a DGR Building Fund which allows us to collect funds that are used to maintain and upgrade our school buildings - something that is constantly required in our 141-year old buildings and which existing government funding never fully covers.

We also operate a DGR fund for our Library. Donations to this fund allow us to purchase books and resources for our wonderful school library - something which represents a lasting investment in the learning and engagement of our students.

Any parents considering making a donation prior to tax-time are encouraged to consider the school, chat to their accountant and reach out to Nova Whitehead, our lovely Business Manager at nova.whitehead@education.vic.gov.au to make arrangements.

Nova will be able to provide you with the appropriate receipts and documents to provide to your accountant to allow a tax-deduction to take place.

St Kilda Mums - 'Coats for Kids'