Dear Families

I trust that you had an enjoyable long weekend. The weather certainly helped as it enabled us to get outside and enjoy some leisure time.

NAPLAN

NAPLAN testing for students in years three and five commenced yesterday, and will continue into next week. The days for each of these assessments were published on COMPASS last Friday. The tests assess student understanding and achievement in writing, reading, language conventions and maths. These nationwide tests do give parents and teachers a snapshot of student achievement and assist schools to plan for future learning. Please be aware that this is only one assessment on a given day: your child’s class teacher is better placed to give you feedback on how your son or daughter is progressing.

NAPLAN is being run a lot earlier this year than it has been previously and we are anticipating that individual student reports will be back in the school in early term three. We will forward these to parents as soon as we receive them.

School Holidays

Some advance warning for families: school finishes for the term vacation break at 2.30pm on THURSDAY, April 6th, following a whole of school assembly. Please arrange for the earlier collection of your child/ren on this day. School resumes again for term two on Wednesday, April 26: Monday, April 24 is a common planning day for staff and NO students are required at school, and Tuesday, April 25 is a public holiday for ANZAC DAY.

Theft

Over the long weekend we had in excess of 200m of copper wire stolen from the school grounds: specifically servicing the new double storey portables on Haines Drive. This has resulted in over 200 students being without power (lights, internet, air conditioning). As this cabling is hard to obtain it is going to be some time before we get this rectified, we are working with the electrician to get a temporary fix in place. This also upset our plans around NAPLAN as we were going to use this space. If you have any information about this please contact Werribee Police.

Harmony Day

One of the strengths of our school is the range of nationalities and cultures represented as a part of our student body. This diversity helps to make our school the wonderful place that it is. To recognise this range of people groups we will be celebrating HARMONY DAY on Tuesday, March 21. Children will be invited to attend in costume or dress which represents their background, or come dressed in orange. There will some parades held so that every one has the opportunity to celebrate and recognise the differences amongst our school community. Details of the parades, which parents are welcome to attend are as follows:

8.55 am Foundation - Grade, 1 in the Gym

8.55 am Grade 2 - 6, on the Basketball Court

The parade is expected to last for approximately 30 minutes.

School Council Elections

Following the closure of the ballot for the recent school council election counting of the votes is now underway. Once we have a result we will release this to the school community via Compass. A big thank you to everyone who voted in this important election, and a special recognition of those who were willing to put their hand up to be considered for a position on the school council. The first meeting on this new school council will be held on Thursday, March 30, which is also the night of the community picnic. The meeting will commence at 7.15pm, following the annual reporting meeting which is scheduled for 6pm.

Annual Reporting Meeting

Each year we hold an annual reporting meeting whereby we present our annual report to the school community. This is planned for 6pm, Thursday, March 30, and will be held in the staffroom. All are welcome to attend.

Community Picnic

This is planned for 3.00 – 5.00pm on the afternoon of Thursday, March 30. There will be some food stalls in attendance, along with stalls from the local community. Each class will pair with another to have their own stall as well. Children will need an adult with them to participate in this school event, which will not begin until school has closed for the day, and children from after school care will be given the opportunity to participate. We would love to see you there, as this activity is planned as a way to bring our wider community together.

Camps

Planning is currently underway for our annual year four and year six camps. As final costings and staffing levels are dependent on numbers we need a response from every student as to whether or not they will be attending. This is inclusive of children who are not going to camp as we need to put plans in place for their classes whilst the rest of the group is away as well. Thank you for your assistance with this.

Enjoy the upcoming weekend everyone.

Sue Seneviratne

Principal

Important Dates