SRC Ukraine Fundraiser

The school was a sea of blue and yellow on Friday as we united in support for the people living in Ukraine. It was wonderful to hear our students share their family stories and understandings. Timothy 6W made a wonderful speech at assembly and Talia 2D presented her class with yellow and blue ribbons to wear as she gave information about her family connections to Ukraine to her class. We raised $843.00 to go towards the Ukraine crisis appeal, with some of our families making very generous donations – Thank you to everyone for their support.

Thank you

A very big thank you so much to all the families who took some time to assist at the working bee on Saturday, 26th March. We had a small turnout, however, everyone in attendance worked hard to clean up the school. We were able to:

Weed the kitchen garden area ready for the year 3/4 students to do some planting
Tidy the school grounds, clean up weeds and rubbish
Empty the container near the portables to create space for our archives
Empty the storage room in the main corridor to create space for our archives
Begin cleaning the storage room at the back of the office to create space for our archives
Clean and tidy up the uniform shop and second-hand clothing

Whether it was half an hour or 3 hours, your help with greatly appreciated!

These families signed in on the day (please let us know if you were in attendance but did not sign in).

Bates family – Max
Bright family – Sandy
Crawford family – Kate and Josie
Dick family – Tully and Gus
Figot family – Oscar and Toni
Green family – Archie and Angus
Hamilton family – Millie and Grace
Hicks family – Claire and Sophie
Houghten family – Ruby
Lysaght family – Harriet
MacPhie family – Charlotte and Evie
Moore family – Harry and Ollie
Mumford family – TJ
O’Gorman family – Thomas
Pinto family – Rowan and Lucas
Pinto family – Julia and Clara
Redden family – Felix
Sheffield family – Pippa and Finn
Seymour family – Ollie
Warry family – Alice and Tommy

It was lovely to have parents onsite again, engaging with one another and the school for the benefit of the students. Many students were in attendance and helped out. It was wonderful to have their input and assistance in keeping our grounds looking great. Thank you to Mrs Kate Nancarrow and Mr Tim Chapman for attending and helping on the day. Many school documents are required to be kept for a period of time such as School Council documents, finance information, student files, etc. With the growing records required we have run out of space and needed to create more so that we do not need to outsource the storage of archived files which would result in an ongoing cost to the school.

HELP NEEDED – are you a landscape gardener, carpenter, gardener, or do you have skills in these areas? We need you!

We are looking for help in many areas of the school from our parent community. One area where help is desperately needed within the school is the grounds. If you have any gardening or carpentry skills, please consider signing up for our Building and Environment Committee. We are looking for help to develop a long-term plan for various projects that can be achieved at upcoming working bees with direction and plans already in place. You do not need to be able to attend every working bee or be a School Council member, but being on the Building and Environment Committee to attend planning meetings and help coordinate the work would be great. If you or someone you know has skills in these areas, please come and chat with me!

Sustainability

I had the privilege of presenting at a Principal meeting for ResourceSmart Schools Eastern Alliance for Sustainable Living. It was great to share our journey as a Five-Star Sustainable School with other Principals who are keen to begin their journey. This opportunity highlighted to me the many successes here at Solway. We have much to celebrate! Part of my presentation was to highlight the financial benefits. A screenshot from our portal demonstrates that since 2010 as a school, we have saved over $120,000!

As the program continues, we have found that much of the work of the Sustainability sub-committee has slowly, over time, transferred to the students. The bulk of the work for our reaccreditation lies with the student leaders. This was great to share with the schools online, sharing how we have evolved over the past 14 years. 2022 is another accreditation year for Solway. Our Green Team and student leaders, including our newly formed Accountancy Team, are entering the data and assisting Ms Gill and Mr McWhirter in our accreditation.

We are looking for parent input to continue with projects, such as clothing recycling, grant applications for significant scale works and ideas. If you have any skills or are keen to help, please reach out to me about what this role could entail!

Second-hand clothing

There has been a considerable amount of second-hand clothing donations, some of which cannot be sold. When sending along clothing for the second-hand uniform shop, please ensure it is in very good condition – free from fading, no holes and washed. If you have clothing that does not meet these requirements, please donate directly to other families or clothing donation bins. The Sustainability sub-committee are investigating clothing recycling options for our families.

COVID Management

Thank you again to all the families who continue to test twice a week using the Department supplied RAT kits. This has continued to assist us in managing COVID cases at school, identifying cases before symptoms in some instances.

This has been the first term since the start of 2020 that students have not been in remote learning! It has been wonderful having the students here at school, developing back consistency. This goal is to keep students and staff as safe as possible to ensure the continued running of an onsite program. The postponement of the Year 5/6 camp until later in the year has helped as currently staffing schools for teacher illness is particularly challenging.

We expect that as the year transpires, we will be able to begin planning for school events, starting with face-to-face assemblies for the students. Due to the size of the school and the current guidelines, we have not yet had any whole school events for our students, and any events are, wherever possible, limited to classes or year levels. Staff meetings have only just returned to face to face.

We have booked dates for our Whole School Production, early Term Three, which was postponed last year. School Council has approved the planning for a whole school event for parents in early Term Four. Further details will be provided later in the year. While it has no doubt been disappointing from a community aspect that whole school events are not yet back in place, this is something we are planning for and will build back into our school calendar.

The goal of the Fundraising Committee is to bring the community back together. Plans will begin as soon as it is safe to do this for our staff and students. We are eager to hear from you if you are keen to help on the Fundraising Committee! Solway is looking forward to planning for a Fair in 2023. There is considerable planning needed for an event such as this. Much of the planning will need to begin this year. We would love to hear from anyone who could assist in any way.

To maximise the safety of our school community, the following guidelines are still in place:

Parents are allowed on site.
Parents/carers MUST sign in at the office. If you need to attend the school for any reason, please come via the office so your attendance can be logged.
Masks – masks are required to be worn indoors for Primary Schools. This guideline is in place for all students in years 3-6, staff, and visitors.
School Assemblies –Schools are permitted to run assemblies for school staff and students with guidelines. For Solway, this requires WebEx assemblies for the students at this stage. As soon as guidelines permit, we will introduce face-to-face assemblies for students and staff.
School Tours can take place with considerations in place
Parent Helpers and Volunteers will commence in Term 2 with one parent per class at any one time.
Following the Department of Education’s Infectious Disease Policy, all unwell students or staff should remain at home until symptoms resolve, be tested, and seek medical assistance as required. Please do not send your child to school if they show any signs or symptoms such as sore throat, runny nose, cough, temperature, fatigue and/or shortness of breath. Students who exhibit any of these symptoms will be sent home.
Anyone who has COVID or is deemed a household contact must isolate for seven days.

Thank you for your continued support and understanding to ensure the health and wellbeing of our school community.

Parent Helpers

We are slowly introducing parent helpers back into the school program. Kate Nancarrow will run parent helper sessions at school next term. To be a parent helper, you must attend a session with Kate (or have attended one of these sessions in the past few years), have a valid Working with Children Check, produce a current vaccination certificate or exemption and wear a mask. Parent helpers in the classrooms will begin again in Term 2. Parent helper information sessions will be held 9:00am on Wednesday 27th April or 2:30pm Thursday 28th April in the conference centre. Please register your attendance via the office.

Pyjama Day

On Wednesday, 6th April (tomorrow), the school will be having a pyjama day. Students can come dressed in their pyjamas, a fun way to end a jam-packed term! We hope to see all our students participating. Students will be involved in some fun activities on the day. Please consider appropriate clothing, long dressing gowns may get in the way and cause trips. Students are welcome to bring along a change of clothes for later in the day if they find their pyjamas are difficult to wear out in the yard.

Resilience Project Parent Presentation ‘Discovering Resilience’ with Martin Heppell

I have spoken to a few parents over the past week who either attended Martin Heppell’s Resilience Project Presentation on Wednesday 16th March or have listened to the recording that is available until Friday 8th April. I highly recommend setting aside an hour of your time with a cuppa to hear the message.

https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/77cyV-t5lDh9IOjyPwlMXpGiHCoA3Dwf6LFbpfe2I-rFj7Gmg8HgrHwXeFun0j4R.Ple-emQIZSD2Fb6u

Please note, this link will expire at midnight on 8th April.

School Council 2022

The new School Council for 2022 met last week following the nomination period earlier this month. The following positions were filled:

President: Deb Brown (Hamish and Lachlan)

Vice President: Lucy Menting (Oliver)

Treasurer and Finance Sub-Committee Convener: Andrew Merryweather (Jessica and Lucy)

Minute Secretary: Tim Chapman (staff)

Buildings and Environment Sub-Committee Convener: James Seymour (Oliver)

Education Sub-Committee Convener: Robyn Davis (staff)

Sustainability Sub-Committee Convener: Leslie Dundon (Felix)

Fundraising Sub-Committee Convener: Felicity McGrath (Max)

Marketing Sub-Committee Convener: Hesper Moore (Jack)

Any parents who have skills in these areas or are simply interested in getting involved are encouraged to speak to the school – we would love to hear from you. All our sub-committees need new members. They usually meet twice a term. You do not need to have any particular skills to be involved, just a willingness to lend a hand. The benefits are in the connections you make with other families – and for the school. Many hands make light work!

Please see me at school if you are interested, and I will put you in touch with the relevant Convener.

2021 Annual Report

Our 2021 Annual report was presented to the School Council at the Annual Reporting Meeting last week and is now available for parents and other interested persons on the School Website. Link to Annual Report.

Staffing

Next term, we welcome back Ms Samantha Lim after having her baby. Sam will be working one day a week to assist with covering classes for planning. Welcome to Louise Pearson, Library Technician, working at school one day a week. Mrs Sarah Watkins is taking long service leave at the beginning of Term 2. Mrs Nina Dordevic will be replacing Sarah in her class. Sarah is heading to New Zealand to visit family.

End of Term – School Holidays

Please note that school finishes on Friday at 2:30 pm for the end of term. We wish our families a safe and happy Term One and Easter break.

How quickly the end of term arrives! It has been a very busy one, so it is no surprise that our students (particularly Preps) and staff are tiring and looking forward to a well-earned break. It has been wonderful to have our students back on site for the first full term in two years!

Over the school holiday break, parents can struggle to keep their children occupied and grapple with the guilt of trying to ensure their children are not bored. Over the break, I encourage you to welcome this feeling to your children and let them find some time to engage their brain in boredom. I am currently reading Brene Brown’s new book: Atlas of the Heart. In the book, she discusses boredom and explains that when her children were young and bored, once the “I’m soooo bored” was over, often she would find them doing something really important, like daydreaming or creating.

Boredom allows our children to find their own things to do and, as Brene mentions, allows them an opportunity to create. I have heard a child psychologist recently discussing a therapy for teenagers on how to be bored. Our children live in a world of instant and constant gratification. They are no longer given time to be bored. If waiting for a train or bus, most people reach for their phone and scroll. When I went to school, we had to look around, engage and chat with other students and make connections or create. I encourage you to look for opportunities to allow your children this time to be bored and see where it takes them once they get passed the initial complaining!

‘Children need time to themselves – to switch off from the bombardment of the outside world, to daydream, pursue their own thoughts and occupations, and discover personal interests and gifts.’

And it doesn’t matter if your child doesn’t have any apparent personal interests or hobbies that they can pursue independently.

‘Just letting the mind wander from time to time is important… for everybody’s mental wellbeing and functioning.’

‘A study has even shown that, if we can engage in some low-key, undemanding activity… the wandering mind is more likely to come up with imaginative ideas and solutions to problems.’

https://www.melbournechildpsychology.com.au/blog/the-benefits-of-boredom/

Lyn Rodda

Principal

Message of Thanks

Dear Solway Community,

On behalf of my family in Ukraine, I'd like to THANK YOU VERY MUCH for organising a fundraiser to help the people of Ukraine. I have more than 50 close relatives who are affected and my greatest hope is that this war will end very soon.

I know that my brothers, aunties, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews will be forever grateful for your help, care and understanding, and I join them in thanking the Solway family from the bottom of my heart.

Tatyana Illiuk

Health and Wellbeing

I thought you may like to see some of the work coming from discussions in classrooms regarding empathy, emotions and resilience. As you are aware, Solway has a strong focus on student wellbeing and this is evident when walking through the classrooms and during discussions with students.