Dear Families,

It is with a mix of excitement and sadness that we end the most challenging of school years. Exciting that everyone is looking forward to a well deserved extended break and also sadness as we say goodbye to our Grade 6 students. Additionally, we'd like say goodbye to some of our families who are embarking on new adventures or have a Grade 6 student who is the last child of the family to graduate from primary school.

Graduation

Our Grade 6 Graduation was a roaring success. Our students set the bar very high and represented themselves and our school magnificently. We couldn't have been prouder of our graduating class.

A big thank you is extended to the Grade 5/6 teachers and support staff who spent many hours preparing for the evening. They did an outstanding job ensuring every student felt included, valued and appreciated on the night.

Thank you to our parents who were a great support and also to the Mecure who were great hosts for the evening

Last School Assembly

Our last assembly was held on Wednesday and it was such a lovely way for the school to farewell our Grade 6 students and celebrate the achievements of our students. If you haven't seen it yet, we recommend you have a look at the Facebook video that was posted of our entire school creating one big, beautiful archway for our Grade 6 students to make their way through. It was a great way to end the assembly.

We'd also like to thank Echuca College Principal and Simon Wood and Assistant Principal Cathy Kervin for attending and presenting a well deserved scholarship to Chelsea Glover.

Wally the Wanderer made an appearance and presented many students with Wally certificates. Many students reaching in excess of 50 stickers for the year.

Thank you to Dee Nesbit and the Echuca Moama Kiwanis Club for presenting our Terrific Kids awards.

Last Day of School

Believe it or not today is the last day of school and our students will be dismissed at 1pm. The buses will be running 2 hours earlier than normal and all bus students will be departing school at 1:10pm.

Farewell

We'd like to acknowledge and farewell a number our families who are leaving us. For some of these families, they have had many years of engagement with either Echuca South PS or Echuca West PS and more recently as families of Echuca Twin Rivers School. This presents as a really emotional time as many of these families surfed the wave with us through the amalgamation and have helped build this school into a thriving community. So it is with a heavy heart that we say farewell to the following families:

Collins Family
Glover Family
Holland Family
O’Connell Family
Chalmers Family
Romanes Family
Skinner Family
Tarr Family
Woods Family
Aguenza Family
Burns Family
Fish Family
Green Family
Johnson Family
Logie Family
Millen Family
Newman Family
Scott Family
Campbell Family
Rosendale Hall Family
Hearn Family
Kervin Family
Kneebone Family
O’Brian Family
Somerville Family
Trevena Family

We sincerely thank you for your wonderful contributions to our schools, whether that be the many BBQs that have been cooked over the years, the numerous fundraisers that have been organised, being camp and excursion helpers, morning reading volunteers, School Council reps, working bee helpers, playgroup coordination, providing music for our events, friendly faces at the gate each day, sport coaching, the many donations given over the years and the list goes on however, we want you to know that it never goes unnoticed. Without your ongoing support and energy, many of these vital events over the years could not nor would not have happened. And our students have been the greatest benefactors of your hard work.

We wish these families every success with the next chapter in their lives and despite the next step being one outside of our school, the door is always open for you to drop in and say hello.

So from ETRS to our departing families, we’d like to say goodbye good luck and thank you.

Library Helpers

Thank you to the parents who volunteered their time in the library this week, it was greatly appreciated.

2021 Classes and Teachers

We will be running 12 classes next year.

2 x Preps

3 x 1/2

3 x 3/4

4 x 5/6

We also have several new staff members joining us. We'd like to warmly welcome

Ms Courtney Foster (Grade 3/4 teacher),

Cailtin Green (5/6 teacher), Meaghan Portwine (PE Specialist) and Angus Mawson and Georgia Lowe (trainees).

We are bidding farewell to Leila Campbell and Emily Flannigan who has decided to take leave next year. We'd like to thank Leila for her hard work and effort in setting up our PE program this year as a specialist subject. She also did a wonderful job of organising our Athletics Days under some very trying conditions.

We'd also like to acknowledge the amazing contribution that Emily has made to our school in her role as our Wellbeing Officer. We wish both staff members all the best next year. We look forward to welcoming them back in 2022.

2021 Dates

Just a reminder about some key dates for 2021:

All students (except Prep) return to school on Friday 29th of January.
Prep students return on Monday 1st of February.
Teachers return on Wednesday the 27th of January.

Reports

Reports went home on Wednesday via Sentral. Please ring the school if you require assistance in accessing your child's report. Alternatively, you can request a paper copy if needed.

End of Year Survey

Thank you to all the parents who have taken the time to complete our survey. There have been many wonderful ideas put forward and we look forward to putting them into action in 2021.

If you'd still like to contribute to the survey, it is still open until the 18th of December (today). It is a 30 question survey which also includes questions about your experience of remote learning and will take about 10 mins to complete. Below is the survey link, just click on it and it will take you to the survey. We appreciate and value your time and opinions. A text message was sent out last week to families with the link.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/T97FLL5

Toy Drive

Thank you to the many families who contributed to this initiative. It was fabulous to see it so well supported.

Class Parties

Our students had a wow of a time on their Celebration Days. There were many smiling faces that greeted us on their return. From tumbling at Jett's Gym, to riding on Paddle Steamers, whipping up a science storm at TwistED and enjoying a dip in the pool, everyone had a super time. It was just so nice to be able to engage in pre - Covid activities again.

DET Operations Guide

We were notified this week that the current restrictions in place will continue into next year. Staggered end times will cease and everyone will be finishing the school day at 3:15pm. The start time of 8:45 will remain. All other restrictions around gathering numbers, hand washing, signing in and out at the office will remain part of our daily practice for a bit longer yet.

Second Hand Uniform

We have a number of uniform items in the office that can be purchased. Each item is priced at $2. If you have any items that are in good condition and you have no further use for them, we would appreciate any school uniform donations. Please bring them to the staff in the office.

Happy Holidays

We'd like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy, safe and restful holiday season.

It has been a trying year for all of us yet 'when the going got tough, the tough got going'; we pulled together and made it work. We are so grateful for the support you gave us this year and the efforts and sacrifices that you made to ensure your child's education remained a high priority throughout a time of such uncertainty. We couldn't have been prouder of our school community. Thank you.

We wish you all a very merry Christmas and a happy and safe holiday.

Kind regards,

Rob and Anthea

Term Dates/Important Dates

2021