A message from the Principal

SKiPPS fete 2020

I don't think I need to say too much about the incredible school fete that took place on Saturday. Most of you were there and saw for yourself the amazing attractions, food, drink, entertainment, dunking and picture perfect weather.

The day was pretty much perfect and provided me with countless moments that made me think how lucky I am to lead a school with such a great commitment to community and having fun. The students, parents and wider community all came together to provide an absolute highlight of my time at SKiPPS.

As well as being such a fun day, the fete also serves as a fundraiser for the school. This year we hope to raise $20,000 which will be used to purchase ‘classroom libraries’ for each class – money to build an engaging area in each space full of fun, high-quality books that will entertain, capture imaginations and show students what good quality writing looks like.

The work that goes into such a huge event reminded me why we only do this once every couple of years and I believe 2020 managed to top the brilliant fetes we held in 2014, 2016 and 2018. I am already looking forward to 2022 and trying to make that even better again.

I can't talk about the fete without thanking a few people;

the hundreds of parent volunteers on the day were wonderful.
The fete committee of Anna Bongiorno, Lucy Saliba, Eleanor Bryant, Kristy Vincent, Alana Kelly, Jo Gibbs, John Ahern, Steve Chambers, Robbie Cappuccio, Illaria Miglioranza and a few others who put hours and hours into making it such a great day.
Mostly to Catherine Sharples who, despite no longer being a parent at the school, put in the hours of hard work, organisation and late night emails to make this happen. Catherine took this role on when no one else wanted to and built a team that delivered such a great day for our school. Without her, the fete wouldn't have happened and that is a perfect way to bring her time at SKiPPS to an end.

Events like our fete are such crucial parts of making our school community what it is and, with the departure of Catherine and a few other parents who have contributed so much for years, we are really keen to encourage new parents and ideas to step into this role.

We are holding a fundraising meeting at school at 8:15am on Tuesday 10th March (straight after the public holiday) and we will be brainstorming ideas and putting together a calendar of social, community and fundraising events for the remainder of 2020. In particular we are keen to discuss and plan out a mid-year social event for parents only (along the lines of our recent Trivia Nights). If you feel that you can contribute to this on any level, please come along to this meeting.

High Country and Gippsland Comeback - Fitzroy Street

On a similar community theme, for the last 18 months, the school has been an active participant on the City of Port Phillip Fitzroy Street place making group - working together to find ways to revitalise our street.

A brilliant initiative is the High Country and Gippsland Comeback which launched last Friday night. Local venues the Saint (54 Fitzroy Street) and the Thomas (107 Fitzroy Street) have created pop-up 'comeback' shops to allow producers from the areas devastated by the recent bushfires to reach a new market.

I would encourage all of our families to go along to these new venues (open 10am to 5pm Saturdays and Sundays from 29 February - 26 April) and spend some money. Doing this will not only support businesses struggling due to recent events but will also help to bring life back to our street - a genuine win-win situation.

Further details can be found at www.fitzroystreet.lovemyplace.com.au

Neil Scott, Principal