Principal Report

Dear families,

As previously shared in a Compass post last week, there was an incident at school that resulted in an afternoon of disruption. This was unexpected. 

Thank you to those families that have reached out to check on all of those involved. The ongoing care and consideration for the situation has been appreciated by those impacted, including the young person involved.

As per the Department’s privacy policy, I am unable to discuss the consequences for another student. Please be reassured the safety of all students is very important, and we take all matters impacting student safety seriously. 

The event was handled quickly and efficiently with interruptions to student learning kept to a minimal. 

Every child was spoken with by the principal team and reassured that school is a safe place, and those students and staff most affected offered department supports.

Looking ahead there are lots of exciting events and activities over the coming weeks. We have grade 3-6 swimming next week in week 7, book week and the book parade in week 8, as well as Hoop Time for grade 34 students on the Friday. 

Please note that specialist days for grades 12 and 34 will change in week 8. A simple Tuesday and Friday swap will happen to ensure the grade 34 teachers can join their classes for Hoop Time. Thank you for everyone's support with these changes.

We also have a community Open Night on Thursday 31st August between 5:00-6:30pm with a focus on Literacy. Look out for the separate Compass Post. Thank you to Mrs. Warner and Mrs. Donnelly for helping organise and the teams for creating some exciting activities for the night.

There will be an information night for grade 2 parents on the Open Night for the school Laptop Initiative. I will run a session at 4:40pm and 6:40pm for 20 minutes. Before and after the Open Night. Hopefully this will work well with dinner times or bedtimes and will maximise the chances for families to learn more about the initiative. The location will be confirmed in a Compass post. 

A big thank you to the teachers in Prep, Grade 1 and Grade 2, including the Specialists, ES staff and parent volunteers who attended swimming week. The students had a great time, although by Friday (well really by Tuesday) the students were very tired. 

The grade 34 students also attended Eastlands for a day focussed on science. You can read more under the school news page. Thank you to the staff who attended and made the day a fun day for all involved. A special thank you to Jodie at Eastlands who covered most of the costs and Edwina Ricci who shared her knowledge around Friendology with the students. 

Grade 56 attended Hoop Time. Rolling Hills had two teams face off in the final with a spot guaranteed for the next round for regionals, only one team could progress. Well done to all involved and thank you to the teaching team at 56, and support staff, and those who coached and encouraged the children on the day.

The grade 56 netball team also went to districts. Well done for progressing and thank you to Mrs. Donnelly for coaching. Although this is where the journey ended, we are extremely proud of your efforts.

And on Friday night the Rolling Hills Kinder had their disco in the gym. A great night out for those little people and a great feeling to be able to share our facilities with the community. 

As you know in life bumps in the road come along that are unexpected but as a community it is important that we continue to move forward focussing on building positive experiences for our children. We have so many to look forward to this term. Modelling and talking about resilience when these bumps come along to our young people, as well as discussing empathy and care, is so important for their emotional learning. 

A reminder about attendance and the hours school opens. Children should not be dropped before 8:30am. We do not have enough staff on-site prior to this to ensure a safe environment. It is also very cold outside in the mornings. We have had a large number of children coming to school earlier than we would like. 

We offer a before and after school service to help families who need to drop children early. If we have children here before this time, we will call you and let you know that they have been booked into OSH for that day.

We also would like children at school every day they are well. It is important that children attend school each and we aim for them to be on time. Please take the time to read our attendance policy. 

Wishing you all the best over the coming week.

Craig