Message from the Principal 

James Penson 

THANK YOU FOR A GREAT FATHER’S & SPECIAL PERSONS DAY BREAKFAST

Our Father’s & Special Person’s Day Breakfast was a terrific success today and we set a world record for the number of cheese and ham and cheese toasties served.  It was GREAT to get back to running this event after the last few years we have had. A huge amount of time and effort goes into organising such events and it is always a real team effort. Congratulations and thank you to our PA team for organizing this special event.

A huge thank you to our organizer Hayley Ormandy and the PA Team. 

I hope all our dad’s, grandads and special family members enjoy their day on Sunday.

 

SPRING IS IN THE AIR….

The weather has been a little bit warmer (well at least on a few days) and there are lots of signs that Spring has arrived. This is a time of the year that many of us really love and there is light…indeed longer daylight at the end of the tunnel. This is a reminder for all our students to start wearing their school hats outdoors!

 

We have all worked hard this year to get this far and with only a couple of weeks of term left, we are in the final stretch. This last little part might really start to test the motivation and engagement and we have noticed that our students are tired. The GREAT thing is that we have our very special whole school production of Peter Pan to look forward to and finish off the term on a real high note.

 

PETER PAN PRODUCTION

This is a final reminder to all families to make sure you have signed the permission forms on COMPASS for our whole school production of Peter Pan. This is needed to allow students to travel by bus on both Monday 12th and Tuesday 13th September to the Plenty Ranges Arts & Convention Centre for the performances each day. 

 

As communicated, all our Year 5 and 6 students will be performing at all four shows (day and night on both days). On Monday all our Prep-Year 4 students with surnames A-K will perform in the daytime and evening show and all the other students will be in the audience for the daytime show. On Tuesday all our Prep-Year 4 students with surnames L-Z will perform in the daytime and evening show and the other students will be in the audience for the daytime shows. 

 

This means that there will not be any students onsite at school on either day as the whole school will be at the venue. If your family is experiencing any financial pressures around the cost of this event, please let me know as we require all students to attend. 

 

I would like to take this early opportunity to say good luck to all our students. The cast have been working very hard rehearsing and all our senior students have been working in groups to organize the props, costumes and everything that goes into putting a show together. Our younger students are also getting very involved, and I have even heard of some students practicing their dance at home. 

 

There will be nerves on the night – yes from me as well! That is all part of the experience and something to embrace, learn about and work through. Along with nerves there is also a real high and buzz that comes from being part of an event like this and it is certainly an exciting ride to be part of. 

 

CAPITAL WORKS PROJECT UPDATE

Janine and I continue to meet with the builders, VSBA and project manager for a site meeting every fortnight and a project meeting with the architects and VSBA every month. The project timeline has again been extended due to the delays associated with asbestos abatement and removal. The completion date is now late May 2023. 

 

It is most likely that our oval may also be unavailable for the remainder of this year and into early next year. There was a plan to initially reinstate the surface before completing a major regeneration later in the year, but due to the overrun of the timeline it makes sense to do one major regeneration properly rather than temporary works twice. This would include hydro seeding the surface which requires several months to seed and grow before it can be used. The project manager is very aware of the impact this is having on our students and is working with the builders to streamline this timeline as much as possible. I will provide a further update as soon as these details have been confirmed.

 

Works to refurbish the student toilets located next to the Art Room will commence this holiday period. These are being designed as gender neutral toilets. Other works such as adding additional spaces to the Administration building are being pushed back to the January holiday period.

 

TRANSITION PROGRAM

Our 2023 Preps have had their first visits to our school. Our Experience Greenhills sessions are running extremely well, and we look forward to building momentum around our transition and preparation for next year. Thank you to our Prep Team of Nigel, Sam, Andrea, Betty, Kristine and Sharon Draper for their organization. We are planning to run 3 x prep classes of 20 students for next year.

 

iPad INFORMATION NIGHT

David Symeonidis & Jon McFarland will facilitate our iPad Information Night for our Year 2 families moving into Year 3 next year. This will be held next week on Tuesday 6th September at 7.30pm via Webex. We have met with the office staff to organise improved systems for this roll out with portal links and permissions and parent indications all set up via Compass. 

 

END OF YEAR DATES FOR THE DIARY

Planning for Term 4 has commenced, and we would like to hold our last Professional Practice Day for 2022 on Monday 19th December. I understand that these days can be difficult and inconvenient for parents, so we have carefully considered the timing of this day to ensure the least interruption to student learning. Having this in the last week of school, rather than during the term will minimize any lost learning time for our students which is our highest priority. We have also factored in that as our last assembly will be on Friday 16th December and some families commencing holidays early, there may have been fewer students attend school as normal on the following Monday. 

 

So, to confirm these arrangements: our Year 6’s will have their Graduation evening on Thursday 15th December. We will have our last school assembly on Friday 16th December. Monday the 19th December will be a pupil free day and our last day of school will be Tuesday 20th December with a 1pm dismissal time for those students that do attend. 

 

 

 

James Penson

Principal