From the Principal
ROYAL CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL GOOD FRIDAY APPEAL
Thank you to all families who donated to our casual clothes day fundraiser for the Royal Children’s Hospital. $616.30 was raised by our school community.
EASTER RAFFLE
Thank you to Helen Gigliotti and Glenice Winter, and all their helpers who prepared the wonderful Easter prizes for our raffle. Thank you also to all who bought tickets and donated for this popular activity.
$3187.06 was raised for the school, which will go towards replacement of interactive whiteboards with interactive touch screen TVs.
STAFF PROFESSIONAL LEARNING
Last week staff participated in a two day in-school workshop, presented by representatives of the International Baccalaureate Organisation (IBO). The workshop was centred on inquiry learning, which is the basis of the Primary Years Program (PYP).
Teachers are continually developing and refining their skills, and working with ideas that support increasing student-centred learning through inquiry.
What is inquiry learning? It involves exploring, wondering, questioning, experimenting, making connections and predications, deepening understandings and researching
SCHOOL PRIDE
The external works linked to our 2016 ‘School Pride’ funding finally commenced during the holidays. We achieved a very competitive price for the works and were able to extend our landscaping scope to cover refurbishing all the front garden area on Hobart Road. Works include:
- renewing the Junior Creative Playground and building a new ‘fort structure’
- refurbishing the memorial garden
- refurbishing the garden, and installing artificial turf and a small deck at the front of the school
- renewing the surface outside the Art/Music area
- repairing a tripping hazard in the asphalt near the sports shed
- removing parts of the Junior adventure playground and replacing with a new ‘fort structure’
- repairing and repairing and reinstating the junior sandpits and
- removing and replacing the floors of the junior toilets.
CENTENARY CELEBRATIONS
There are several activities in progress leading to our centenary celebrations on 4 June 2017. In recognition of the school’s history, the year 5 and 6 students will be involved in an ‘Arts’ project working Melbourne Artist Ursula Dutkiewicz. Together they will create sculptures depicting the significant events of the community and world over the past 100 years. Pillars, which are smaller versions of the pillars of the middle entrance gates in Hobart Road, have been installed, courtesy of the LXRA. Students have painted tiles that will clad the pillars.
Ursula also oversaw the installation near the Art room which was created to celebrate the school’s 90 year history, and focused on local events and people (e.g. the work of the Boyd family).
All classes in the school will be covering historical topics linked to the school’s centenary as part of our units of inquiry.
Jeanette Baker is coordinating the centenary open day activities, which will involve memorabilia, video and pictorial historical accounts, opening ceremony, ‘decades’ rooms through the school, and light refreshments.
2017 ATTITUDES TO SCHOOL SURVEY
The Attitudes to School survey is an annual student survey offered by the Department of Education and Training. The survey assists schools in gaining an understanding of students’ perceptions and experience of school. Our school will use the survey results to plan programs and activities to improve your child's schooling experience.
This year the Attitudes to School survey will be conducted at our school between Monday 22 May to Friday 23 June. The survey only takes 20-30 minutes to complete and occurs during your child's class time. Students from Years 4 to 6 will participate in the survey. They will complete the survey online during school hours using a purpose built secure online survey tool.
The survey results will be reported back to the school in Term 3.
Students privacy is our priority
Students will be provided with a unique login to complete the survey. The student login is an assigned identifier that may be used by the Department to combine data for research purposes only. Your child’s privacy and the confidentiality of your child’s survey responses will be protected at all times. No identifiable personal data is included in the survey response file.
This survey is not a test and your child has the right to refuse or withdraw from the survey at any point before, during, or after completion.
Want to know more?
see: Attitudes to School Survey
2017 PARENT PAYMENTS
Thank you to the parents who have already made their 2017 payments.
Attached is a copy of our policy including the 2017 payment form. Please note that the school heavily relies on both the essential and voluntary contributions to ensure we can provide the best resources to assist our students' learning.
Heather Hill