From Christian's desk....

Walk to School

Over the past week our school has undertaken Walk-to-School Week. Staff and students have met at various points around our school and walked as large groups to school. Not only has this week modelled healthy habits to our children, it has added to our sense of community and togetherness. Thank you to Noreen McMenaman and Leigh Dixon for facilitating the week.

Tomorrow is the last day, I’ll be at Walking Station 1. Meet me there for an 8:30am departure.

Art Show

On Monday evening our students’ art was on display for the school community to see. I commend the students and our Visual Arts teacher, Claudia Michielin for their work. A highlight for mine was the breadth of work across various media. Our Art Captains Harriet and Ari finished the evening hosting the raffle draw and acknowledgements. Well done girls!

Vandalism

Last weekend our school had some unwanted intruders. Four youths took to our new Fairy Garden, destroying many of the creative play elements. The matter is currently with Victoria Police, who are confident that they will be able to identify the youths whose faces were captured on security footage. The youths were wearing distinctive clothing which will assist investigations.

I encourage families and the community to use our sporting fields, outer playgrounds and lower basketball courts on the weekend. Our school is a community resource that, during daylight hours, should be a welcoming, safe place for all.

If you ever see behaviours that are untoward or suspicious please report them to the police immediately. Further, if you have any information relating to this event please call the Croydon Police Station.

2020 School Fees

Payment of 2020 school fees will open this week. School fees supplement the government allocation to schools and are vital to provide high quality learning experiences. The money the school receives from families is broken into three categories:

Essential Education Items, which parents and guardians are required to pay or provide for their child, eg: stationery, books, digital subscriptions and school uniforms where required.

The school will purchase essential educational items on parents' behalf and these will be available for collection, upon payment of the Essential Education Items Levy, on either December 18th 2019 or January 29th 2020. If parents choose to provide equivalent materials, this should be done in consultation with the school, and should meet the specifications provided by the school.

Optional Extras which are offered on a user pays basis; and which parents and carers may choose whether their child accesses or participates in, eg: extra curricula programs or activities or school based events such as camps, swimming and incursions/excursions and music tuition
Voluntary Financial Contributions which parents and guardians are invited to contribute to the school, eg: additional computers, first aid staff, welfare staff, library books, grounds beautification, etc. It should be noted that CHPS, not the Department of Education, provides salaries for our Student Welfare and First Aid Officers, based on school community need for student wellbeing. Your Voluntary Contribution enables us to continue to provide these services and is calculated on the basis of everyone paying their share.

The 2020 Essential School Fees are $204 per child and Voluntary Contribution Fees are $90 per child. Fees are payable on Compass. Camps, excursions and extracurricular fees are requested in the weeks preceding these events.

School Council

Last night School Council passed our 2020 Indicative Budget and spent time reflecting on the school’s 2019 Annual Implementation Plan. I encourage you to refer to Sian’s item in this edition of the newsletter to gain an insight into the evening. The work completed last night is consistent with the work council will do next year as our school undertakes our four yearly School Review.

If you are interested in being closely involved in this process you are encouraged to join School Council in 2020.

Christian Holdsworth - Principal

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