Important Notices

Last call for Foundation 2024 Enrolments

The deadline for foundation enrolments for next year has already passed and we are in the process of making offers to families and locking in numbers and classes for 2024.

Receiving sibling enrolments after this point creates a problem for these plans as unexpected additional students make class sizes larger.

If you do have a younger child starting school next year and have not yet completed the enrolment paperwork please contact the office as soon as possible so we can account for them in our preparations and calculations for 2024.

Similarly, if you know of a SKiPPS family with a 4 or 5 year old who might not read the newsletter or maybe another local family who lives within our school zone with a child starting school next year, we would really appreciate you passing this message on and helping us to make these decisions with confidence.

Fundraising Raffle: It's not too late to win fantastic prizes

Our SKiPPS fundraising raffle has 8 truly fantastic prize packs to be won. It is not too late to get involved and buy tickets with all money raised going towards upgrading the much loved school basketball court.

Ticket sales close at midnight on Thursday with winners announced at assembly this Friday.

Get your tickets at https://rafflelink.com.au/skipps_trivia

Book Week Parade - Friday 25th August

Teachers have started sharing many of the nominated books for the 2023 Children’s Book Week awards. All students will have the chance to vote for their favourite book in each category. Keep an eye on the boards to see which books have been the most popular at SKiPPS.

A reminder that our annual Book Week Parade will be taking place after assembly on Friday 25th August. If you are stuck for costume ideas, take a look at some of the new nominated books – maybe there is a new character that your child might be keen to dress up as.

Walkathon

Our annual school Walkathon will be taking place on Monday 4th September. Notices will be sent home next week, providing greater detail and asking for your support in collecting sponsors for your child for each lap of the oval they can complete.

We are aiming to raise $15,000 from this year's walkathon - funds that will be used for our major fundraising goal of rejuvenating our school basketball court in 2024.

Following the walkathon, we will continue with the tradition of a whole-school celebration with a sausage sizzle, cake stall and icy poles straight after school in the schoolyard. Look out for ways that you can volunteer to help this take place and start collecting your gold coins now. 

Orchestra - new time & day. 

Our SKiPPS Orchestra has long been a wonderful and important part of our school.

Since its creation in 2013 by a group of committed and musical parents, it has been through various incarnations with different conductors, parents and students getting involved and working together to create some memorable moments and to provide an opportunity for all children, regardless of their background and ability to play together (often for the very first time).

We are excited that our orchestra has again taken on a new form with a brand new conductor and a new day for rehearsals.

Michael Roper, our wonderful Performing Arts teacher has taken on the coordination of the group and his rich history of working with orchestras and choirs means that we are excited by the music they will be making.

All students are welcome to come along to the Performing Arts room at 7:50am (for an 8am start) each Wednesday morning. No experience or prior skills are neccessary - come along to try it out and maybe start a journey that will take you to some amazing places!

More details are included later in the newsletter.

We want to know what you think!

Our school is conducting a survey to find out what parents / caregivers / guardians think of our school. 

The Parent / Caregiver / Guardian Opinion Survey is an annual survey offered by the Department of Education that is designed to assist schools in gaining an understanding of families’ perceptions of school climate, student behavior, and student engagement. 

The survey is optional but we encourage all families to participate. Our school will use the survey results to help inform and direct future school planning and improvement strategies. 

A random sample of approximately 30 per cent of parents / caregivers / guardians has been selected to participate in this year’s survey and they will receive an email directly from Neil with instructions on how to access and complete the survey.

The Parent / Caregiver / Guardian Opinion Survey will be open from Monday 7 August to Friday 8 September 2023.

The survey will be conducted online, only takes 20 minutes to complete, and can be accessed at any convenient time within the survey period on desktop computers, laptops, tablets or smartphones. 

The online survey will be available in English and 10 other languages including Arabic, Greek, Hakha Chin, Hindi, Japanese, Punjabi, Simplified Chinese, Somali, Turkish, and Vietnamese.

Missing Basketball 

I have a special request for assistance regarding a missing student basketball.

Recently, one of our students misplaced their basketball near the basketball court. We're turning to our fantastic community to help us solve this mystery.

We kindly ask all parents, carers and students to keep an eye out for the missing basketball. Unfortunately, there is no name or number on the basketball but I have attached a photo below. It's possible that it might have been accidentally taken home or misplaced. 

If you come across the missing basketball, could you bring it to the office so I can pass it onto the rightful owner.

Sub Committee Meetings

Our school has a number of permanent working groups called sub-committees. These groups are made up of staff members and dedicated parents who meet ten times a year with a focus to make our school a better place.

Sub-committees are open for anyone to join and rely on the energy, ideas and hard work of parents to improve the school experience for all of our students.

The groups are open for all parents to join and contribute to so feel free to come along to any of the following meetings.