Principal's Report

3-6 ATHLETICS

Last Tuesday we had our grade 3-6s enjoy the athletics carnival.  Well done to Claire Morris for organising the event and to all of our staff and SEDA students who did a great job looking after groups of students and running events. 

The kids certainly had a great day, enjoying each other’s company and the competition.  It was reassuring to see the attitude displayed by our students, each giving their best in a sportsmanlike manner.  It was also nice to see so many parents and extended family members at the event to support the students.

SCHOOL COUNCIL ELECTIONS

With the School Council election process complete, we can now announce that the following parents and teachers have been elected to join School Council:

·    Parent Representatives – Graeme Benn, Adrian Liston, Luke Blunden, Linda Wight and Kartya DeGraff.  We welcome Adrian and Linda, who are new to School Council and it’s great to have Graeme and Kartya back for another term. 

·    DET (Department of Education & Training) Representatives - Narelle Sullivan and Paula Dekok.  We welcome Narelle and Paula are back for a second term.

Newly elected members join Nora Gordon, Debbie Rybicki, Jane Gilbert, Rachel Lugg, Nicole Phillips, Daniel Spalding and myself in making up our School Council for the coming 12 months.

A big thank you to our retiring School Councillors, those being Anthony Schinck and Natalie Binedell.  Our School Council has worked very effectively over the past few years, so we appreciate the efforts of this group. 

On March 27 we have the last meeting of our current School Council and on Monday April 24 we have the AGM and the April meeting, which will be the first meetings for our new School Councillors.

FUNDRAISING PLAN FOR 2023

Fundraising is important for all schools, as it builds community spirit and raises funds needed to run programs and embark on improvement projects. Raising funds for external beneficiaries can also be a great opportunity to encourage students to think of others.

Now that our major event for 2023, the Fete, is behind us, our attention turns to smaller fundraising efforts to run across the year.  Some of those will target school programs and improvement projects and others for external beneficiaries.

In the coming fortnight we’ll gather a Fundraising Team to coordinate this work.  All school community members are welcome to join this team, so please give me a call if you are interested. 

The purpose of this team is to coordinate fundraising efforts across the school.  The team is not responsible for the organisation or running of fundraising events. 

When developing a fundraising plan for 2023, the team will be endeavouring to:

·         Spread fundraising efforts across a given year and ensure fundraising demands on parents are reasonable.

·         Ensure fundraising approaches and targets are appropriate and match the values of the school.

·         Ensure the various school programs are accommodated.

·         Extend fundraising efforts to charities / causes beyond the school to build a deeper understanding of social justice.

The intention is for all fundraising initiatives to go through the Fundraising Committee.   If you have a fundraising suggestion or proposal, we’d like to know about it.  Contact me and I will provide you with a simple proforma that you can complete and submit to the Fundraising Committee.  These need to be submitted by Monday March 20.

OPEN DAYS

Last week we had 2 Open Days and had quite a few prospective families in to take a tour.  Whilst we sat down and had a chat with all that came through, it was our grade 6s from the Transition Team (with a few helpers) that took visitors for a tour.  They did an excellent job and our guests spoke highly of their work.

Whilst Open Days present a good opportunity for prospective families to visit, we are open to tours at any stage of the year and expect our Transition Team members will continue to be busy over the coming few months.