Principal's Message 

Our children continue to amaze us with their imaginative use of our play spaces.  We currently have less areas to play in due to the building project and the poor weather.  This hasn’t deterred our children who have invented their own games in whatever dry ground they can find. The Foundation tee pees and play kitchen have been a huge success.  We are waiting for the car track to be constructed which is the final stage of the Foundation area.  This will add another play element to our yard. 

Parent’s Group – Hot Chocolate and Cookie Day Wednesday 9 August

A big thank you to our wonderful Parents' Group who are putting on a hot chocolate and cookie day on Wednesday 9 August. Families will be able to pay for the event via Spriggy Schools. A hot chocolate day will be welcomed by all at the moment. Our Parents' Group do an amazing job providing lots of different experiences for our children.   

Curriculum Days – Monday 21 August and Friday 27 October

As mentioned in last week’s newsletter, Billanook is participating in a professional learning project as part of the Lilydale network of schools.  Over 3 years, all 24 schools in the network will be working and learning with well renowned literacy expert Misty Adeniou. The focus of the professional learning is writing with a particular emphasis on the will, thrill and skill of accomplished writers. We have 2 remaining student free days to work with Misty this year.  The next day is Monday 21 August and the last day is Friday 27 October.    Out of School Care will be available for both of these days.  Please book by going to https://theircare.com.au. 

Enrolments – due by July 28

We have had a lot of interest in enrolling at Billanook for 2024.  It is great that Billanook remains a popular choice for our families and the wider community.  It is really helpful for our future planning if we can get a clear picture of how many children will be enrolled for the following year.  Please see Jenny in the Office for the enrolment pack if you have a child starting school next year.  Please note the cut off date for out of zone families, is July 28.  We can’t accept enrolment forms for families who are out of zone after this date.

Kitchen Garden Program 2024

We are making plans to launch our Kitchen Garden program in 2024.  This is a little tricky as we are not sure when the new building will be completed.  If all goes to plan, we will have access to the purpose-built kitchen garden kitchen by at least Term 2 next year. Our kitchen garden program will consist of children learning about the growing of fruit and vegetables, tending to the vegetable garden and cooking produce that has been grown at school.  We will use the Gym canteen kitchen from Term 1 of next year until we have access to the new building.  At this stage we are envisioning that our kitchen garden program will be for Years 3 and 4 students.  We will provide opportunities for our Year 5 and 6 students to do some cooking as well. Stay tuned for more exciting updates as the year progresses.

Regards,

Michael Puddy

Principal