Principal

A big thank you to Kate Nancarrow for her work as Acting Principal while I enjoyed my long service leave and then my unexpected sick leave with COVID! I had a fantastic time in Fiji, enjoying the warm and sunny weather; the time to relax and refresh was beneficial. I want to thank the staff for their work supporting Kate in my absence.

Production

I know Kate has already made mention of this, however, I wanted to thank the students, staff and parents for making the School Production Game On so successful. It looked amazing, and I could watch the video links while on my sick leave! The students did a fantastic job and it was great to see them on the stage enjoying themselves after all their hard work over the past two years. Thank you to Victoria Josephs and Ryoko Yamaoka for preparing the students and staff for the event.

Today the link for the Production was sent via email to all those who purchased tickets through Trybooking. The email was sent to the email used to purchase the tickets. If you did not attend and would like to purchase the link for $10, you can do this via the office. 

Book Week

August is an exciting time as we celebrate Children’s Book Week. The week-long event is an annual celebration of books written for young people and hopes to inspire a love of reading. The theme for Children’s Book Week 2022 is ‘Dreaming with eyes open…’ Books are a great escape from the day-to-day! To celebrate Book Week, students are invited to dress up as their favourite book character on Friday, 26th August. This is a chance to celebrate books and enjoy sharing our favourite characters and books. Year levels will complete activities with their teachers, and the day will focus on commemorating books in our lives.

On Friday 26th August our 2023 Prep students and any local kinder students who are due to start school in 2023, are invited to a story time session between 10:00-10:30am in the school library. Our literacy coordinator Mrs Sarah Watkins will run a story time session. The students are welcome to come along dressed up as their favourite book character! 

Students leaving Solway at the end of 2022

To determine accurate numbers for our 2023 planning, we seek information from any family with students who will NOT be returning to Solway in 2023, excluding our Year 6 graduating students. If this applies to you, we ask that you send an email directly to Lyn Rodda at lyn.rodda@education.vic.gov.au  to indicate this information. Your assistance with this is greatly appreciated as we are preparing to commence our budget planning for 2023 and accurate enrolments are critical to this process. 

100 days of school

Congratulations to our Prep students (and their teachers) who have reached the 100 Days of School milestone which they celebrated this week. The students will celebrate on Thursday at school with a variety of 100’s activities in class. We hope they have a wonderful day.

2022 Parent/Caregiver/Guardian Opinion Survey 

WE WANT OUR PARENTS/CAREGIVERS/GUARDIANS TO TELL US WHAT THEY THINK! Our school is conducting a survey to find out what parents/caregivers/guardians think of our school. The Parent/Caregiver/Guardian Opinion Survey is an annual survey offered by the Department of Education and Training that is designed to assist schools in gaining an understanding of families’ perceptions of school climate, student behaviour, and student engagement.  Our school will use the survey results to help inform and direct future school planning and improvement strategies. 

A random sample of approximately 30 per cent of parents/caregivers/guardians have been selected to participate in this year’s survey. The Parent/Caregiver/Guardian Opinion Survey will be conducted from Monday 15th August to Friday 16th September.

The survey will be conducted online, only takes 20 minutes to complete, and can be accessed at any convenient time within the timeframe on desktop computers, laptops, tablets or smartphones. The online survey will be available in a range of languages other than English. These include Arabic, Vietnamese, Simplified Chinese, Chin (Hakha), Hindi, Japanese, Somali, Turkish, Punjabi and Greek.

Reports

On the final day of Term 2, the student reports were made live on Compass. I have since been alerted to an error in the reports’ letter (page 2). The rating of the 5-point scale for an A and B rating was not accurate. This will be updated, however as these reports have been published will not be corrected on the 2022 Semester One reports. The sentences should have read:

• An ‘A’ rating indicates your child is 18 months or more above the state-wide standard expected at this time of year. 
• A ‘B’ rating indicates that your child is 6 to 12 months above the state-wide standard expected at this time of year.

We apologise for this error and any inconvenience or confusion this has caused.

Year 3/4 Camp

We are incredibly excited for our students to be able to attend a camp this year! On Wednesday (tomorrow) at 10am, Kate Nancarrow will run a parent FAQ session about the Year 3/4 Camp. This will be online. A Compass post has been published with a link for parents to join. Please email any questions before the session so we can prepare to kateya.nancarrow@education.vic.gov.au. There will be an opportunity to ask further questions if you still have any at the session’s conclusion.

Staffing

On Friday 22nd July, we said goodbye to Mrs Sophie Dellaportas, who began her family leave. Sophie has been replaced in the classroom with Ms Emily Brooks. We wish Sophie and George all the best as they prepare for the new addition to their family in the coming weeks. 

Ms Tamika Pettigrove will finish at Solway on Friday 19th August to begin her family leave. Tamika is due to have her first baby in early October. We wish Tamika and Jamie all the best as they prepare for the new addition to their family. Mr Harley Duncan will replace Tamika in 3/4P for the rest of the year. 

Friday 15th July also saw Ms Ferris leave us for a school much closer to home. Renee has a contract until the end of the year and will be back at Solway in 2023. Ms Samantha Lim replaces Renee in the Visual Art’s role on Monday and Wednesday. Sam will be supported by Erin O’Donnell, who will continue in the Visual Arts role on Thursday and Friday. 

I want to thank Sophie, Tamika and Renee for their outstanding work and support of Solway this year. I look forward to seeing them back when they are ready! 

2023 Solway Fair Saturday 18th March

After the cancellation and postponement of our 2020 and 2022 Fair – we are thrilled to announce we have secured a date for the Solway Fair in March 2023! We will start the year with a bang and it will be a great way to support and get to know our new families with such a fabulous community event. 

‘MANY HANDS MAKE LIGHT WORK!’ An information meeting will be set up to garner support for the 2023 SOLWAY FAIR on 18th March. The School Fair is a major Fundraising venture for the school and requires significant support from the broader school community to make it a huge success. With lots of helpers, we can spread the load and ensure no one is overwhelmed. By coming along and showing your interest in involvement, we can share the roles and tasks across the school community and provide our excellent Fundraising Team with the support they need. 

The Solway Fair is a fantastic demonstration of community involvement and is a most rewarding event to be a part of. Experience the ‘Solway Spirit’– see you at the meeting – date and time to be confirmed and will be posted on Compass.

The success of the School Fair and other events in the past have enabled us to update the synthetic turf on the oval, the Prep and Senior School playgrounds, and purchase resources for the students. I know these resources have been fantastic and thoroughly enjoyed by our students and their families. In past years we have installed air-conditioning throughout the school and completed the re-carpeting and furnishing of the Admin building! In 2017 we also installed the electronic sign at the Winton Rd / Taylor St corner, which provides essential news and reminders to our school community. One of our next jobs is to update the junior playground on Taylor Street and repaint the gym and school buildings. 

Every family has the opportunity to contribute to Fundraising by getting involved and supporting the various events throughout the year. There will be something for everyone, and our students are the winners!

Lyn Rodda

Principal