PRINCIPAL'S REPORT

The final day of the school year has arrived and once again, what a year it has been! We were hoping for a normal year after a disrupted 2020, however we again found ourselves impacted by COVID. We thank our community for the resilient and adaptable way you have all worked through the changes and challenges this brought about. Our compassion and support for one another has once again been outstanding and for this we thank you all.

Grade 6 “Big Day Out”

On Monday our grade 6 students took part in a new event, their “Big Day Out” at Cape Bridgewater to celebrate the end of their primary school lives. The two activities of surfing and the “Seals by Sea” tour were extremely popular with the students, many referring to it as the best school day they have ever had! This will be a must keep on our annual school calendar. Thanks to the staff for attending to make this such a great day for the students, who I’m told behaved superbly and were a pleasure to take away.

Billy Tea Bush Dance

On Tuesday all students in grades P to 6 participated in bush dance workshops with the gentlemen from the Billy Tea Bush Band with a ‘concert’ then taking place in the afternoon involving all students. Later that night children and their families had the option to attend our school Bush Dance at Monivae College. Whilst parents (and staff!) may have originally been reluctant to get up on the floor to dance with the students, it was certainly a whole lot of fun when everyone did. Thank you to those families who were able to come along on the night, we know family schedules are very busy at present. Thanks also to Mrs Garland for the great job she did in organising the whole event and also to Jim Bailey and Monivae College for providing the venue for us to use.

Semester 2 Student Reports

Student reports were distributed on Tuesday and I thank staff for the extra time and effort that has gone into producing these. Overall we are very pleased with the progress that has been made by our students in what has been another challenging year of learning.

2022 Start of Year Assessments

As previously advised we will be conducting assessments on the first two days of school next year, Monday 31st January and Tuesday 1st February. Children will only be required at school on one of those days for a 2-hour period, with families to be grouped in to the same time block. A schedule of assessment times were sent home on Tuesday with your child’s report and has also been included in this newsletter under 'Dates to Remember' If you have any questions in regard to your allocated day and time please call the office on Friday 28th January 2022.

Start of 2022 School Year

Prep students will commence on Tuesday 1st February. Students in grades 1 to 6 will officially commence next year on Wednesday 2nd February following the first two days of assessments.

Final Assembly

Our final assembly was held on Wednesday in the Hamilton Botanical Gardens and we have received lots of positive feedback about this new location. Weather depending we will make every effort to do the same again next year. Our choir started the assembly off by beautifully singing a “Mary Poppins Medley” followed by announcing the “Semper Sursum” (Ever Upwards, Always our Best) Awards and then announcing the 2022 grade six leadership positions. In particular I’d like to congratulate our School Captains for next year, Chelsea Abrahamson and Jesse Riley, along with our Student Voice Captains Sophie Dixon and Jack McCulloch (pictured below). Congratulations also to all of our other student leaders with the names and positions included further in this newsletter.

Vaccinations for 5 to 11 Year Olds

The Victorian Government recently announced approval for children aged 5 to 11 years to soon be vaccinated to help protect them against COVID-19. For those who didn’t see the notice posted about this on our Skoolbag app it has also been included with this newsletter.

2021 Grade 5 Swimming

Unfortunately this year our grade 5 students didn’t get the opportunity to go swimming. The Department of Education and Training (DET) recently announced they expected schools to organise and make vouchers available for children who missed out on swimming to still access swimming instruction. As a school we felt this was not a viable option, parents are already extremely busy, and we know HILAC have no real capacity to offer extra sessions during the holidays or after school. Instead we will be organising an additional swimming program for our current grade 5 students when in grade 6 next year. Once a date can be organised we will notify families of our arrangements early in the new school year.

Departing Families

In our final newsletter of the year I would also like to acknowledge families who will no longer be involved with our school, and thank them for the many contributions made throughout their time with the school. Our best wishes and heartfelt thanks goes out to the families of:

Emily Anderson
Cairo Cullinane
Logan Grace
Carmella Kane
Uhban Kashif
Pippi Mellington (dad)
Harlee Palmer
Zoe Priddle
Maddie Wright
Neve Beardsell
George Clark
Isabelle Elliott
Ned Hintum
Emily Iven
Jemima Koch
Poppey Milne
Maddox Ryan
Georgia Taylor
Alex Craig
Taylor Crane
Natarsha Roy
Alex Steff

Thank you to our Gray Street community, you have all once again been amazing in 2021 after another challenging COVID-19 year. We now look forward to 2022, bigger, better and stronger for our awesome students.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a safe and prosperous New Year!

Ben Kelson

Principal

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