From The Principal's Desk
Term 2 Week 8 2023
Dear Parents and Carers,
This will be our final newsletter for Term 2, signifying that we have almost reached half a year of schooling. It only seemed like yesterday that our Preps walked in the door for the first day and before you know it they will have reached 100 days of school.
This week myself, Mrs Cooper and Mrs Lindsay will spend allocated times with our teachers double checking the assessment grades the students in the school have received. This process is important to us to ensure that you receive accurate information of where your child is at. On Monday you will receive the report through Compass, followed by a Parent teacher interview in early Term 3 on Wednesday 12th July. If you feel the need to discuss any concerns with the report prior to the Term 3 interview, please contact your teacher for a possible meeting or phone call.
Last week Mr Toan announced the team for Energy Breakthrough for 2023. This wasn't easy as the team can only cater for 24 spots and 65 students were very interested. Congratulations to the students that have been offered a space, they have lots of training ahead.
Last Thursday I attended the launch of the Ballarat Young Authors' program in which we had 16 students attend. They will participate in 3 workshops over the year with 77 other students from other local schools. It will also involve authors working with the students in the workshops. The program will finish with a celebration at the end in Term 4. We hope our high achieving writers enjoy the experience.
Next week we have our Grade 5 & 6 health day that will focus on Nutrition. Thank you to Mr Storey and Mrs O’Brien who have organised the day for the teachers and students.
On behalf of the school, I would like to congratulate Josh and Meg Zerafa on their first son August Zerafa, who was born on 8th June.
Anti-bullying and the Kindness Awards
We have now had the Kindness Awards going for at least 3 weeks and this has been well received by our students and staff.
Below is a video to advertise and explain The Kindness Awards to students, please watch this on Monday at some point, the video goes for just over 2mins https://youtu.be/uHwbV8ztpVg
The kindness awards is one our strategies to combat some of the bullying and hands on we have seen spike in recent months. It is no secret that students in our school have been getting reflections and suspensions despite over 26 staff on yard duty and process in place to report and see staff members before reacting to situations.
I have taken it upon myself to set an Anti-bullying action plan with the Wellbeing team that will provide a range of strategies for staff, students and parents. There is no one single solution and we acknowledge that to improve this situation it requires more than we what are currently doing in our school.
Many of you would have seen on the school Facebook page my address to the students about this issue. We have committed to the National Anti-bullying day on 18th August. In the lead up to this event we will be looking to plan for activities and key guest speakers to talk.
In the meantime, we appreciate the support of parents who have been able to work with us and provide a safe and supportive environment for all students.
Thanks, Wellbeing Team
School updates
On behalf of the school thank you for supporting the school over the first 6 months of the year. We look forward to working with you for the next 6 months of the school year.
Upcoming dates:
- Wednesday 21st June - Whole school Assembly 2.30pm
- Last day - Friday June 23rd - school finishes at 1.30pm
Have a great week – Scott, Marnie and Stephanie