Principal's Report

Harmony Day- We Belong

Our peace symbol from Harmony Day on Thursday March 21. We Belong! 

608 students formed the symbol of hope on our dry and dusty oval on Thursday. The orange colour flooding the landscape- it was a sight to behold. (Hopefully we have rain in term 2 to bring back the green.)  

Thank you to the many families who provided food to share on the day and the generous donations to World Vision. We raised $580 through the gold coin donations collected on the day.

The students and staff joined in the fun with family heritage costumes from a wide range of countries and cultures. We are a such a wonderfully diverse community but the message of this experience is that we all belong. We want all of our children to learn and play together and treat each other fairly with tolerance and acceptance.

Bearing the very tragic events in New Zealand in recent times, our thoughts are with families in Christchurch and world-wide impacted by this tragedy. May the peace symbol send a message of harmony and hope.

Leave

I will be on leave for the last week of term 1. Kate McLeod will be acting principal during my absence. I am travelling to China with my husband Ian Barr and I am looking forward to the experience and other Asian adventures.

Thank you to all the teaching and non-teaching staff who work exceptionally hard to provide the best educational opportunities for our students and your children.

Tuesday 23rd April is a pupil free day and staff will be attending a combined professional learning day at Park Orchards PS with Wonga Park PS. We will be exploring Character Strengths as the focus is student well-being led by Maria Ruberto.

Facilities

During the holidays, a further 4 classrooms will have new carpet tiles installed. The vinyl in the main foyer is to be replaced due to maintenance error by one of the floor cleaning companies subcontracted by Spotless.

Other works are in planning stage for term 2 and I anticipate School Council will approve the Capital Expenditure for 2019. During term 1 many of the vegetable patches were replanted by our students with guidance from Ian Barr. Vinyl was laid in the junior boys’ toilets.

A team of experts have conducted a site visit representing DET (Department of Education and Training) facilities to begin the investigation of the roof leaks, flooring bearers and drainage issues in our buildings. A submission will be presented from this investigation. There has been an indication that there are recognised common problems with similar schools built as LTCs (Light Timber Constructions) in the 1960s.

GRIP Conference

Inspired by the GRIP city conference our student leaders are working on projects around our school. Our student voice leaders Tori and Jordy are leading our Junior School Council with Walk/Ride to School Day. The data collected is the baseline data with the goal to have more students and families walking or riding to school.

Save Our Crossings Update

All four crossings remain in place for 2019. An audit is planned for term 4 2019 or term 1 2020. The school will be consulted through the audit process conducted by Vic Roads. Whitehorse City Council will keep the school informed of the results and indicate if we are meeting the magic number to keep all 4 crossings surrounding the school.

Our first survey of riding and walking to school data was collected on Friday 22 March. This is our baseline data. Tori and Jordy as our Student Voice Leaders will lead JSC reps to help promote safe walking and riding to school. I hope to make contact with Whitehorse City Council for support with the improved active travel to school over this year.

At the senior assembly on Monday I read a number of WOW writing pieces about how important our school crossings are. Please park away from the school and use our crossings and I remind families that the staff carpark is restricted access. Students should be dropped off outside the school grounds for events before school like band rehearsals or choir practice. No parents should be entering the car park after 8.15am and before 4pm. The staff need to be able to park their cars at their workplace.

Cross Country

On Tuesday we held our annual house cross country run. The close winner this year was HYDRO! Well done to all the competitors and to Mr Sacchetta for the smooth running of the day. We sometimes have to step out of our comfort zone for the success of the team (our value Teamwork comes to mind) and participate in the challenge of a cross country race. Every team member who finishes the race contributes to the overall success of their team.  </