At our first whole school assembly of the year on Monday, we presented badges to students who are members of our 2022 Student Representative Council (SRC) and to our Year 6 student leaders. A few of our classes are yet to identify their SRC representatives, due to a number of absences. In the next issue of our newsletter we will publish the names of all the newly elected SRC members.

Getting To Know You Conferences

Our Compass booking system is open for parents to book 'Getting to Know You' Conferences. These conferences will provide an opportunity for you to meet your child’s teacher and to discuss any matters that may help your child have the very best year possible at school. Our students will be able to talk about their strengths and their goals, and out-of-school interests etc. Our specialist teachers will also be available for the 'Getting to Know You' Conferences and you are welcome to select one or all if you wish.

To help make the meeting as productive as possible, we will also send out a ‘My Child’ form for parents and students to fill in prior to the conference.

The conferences will run across 4 days from Tuesday 15th March to Friday 18th March. Parents and students can elect to meet with teachers in person or via WebEx.

Book Fair

Our Scholastic Book Fair starts on Monday morning in our resource room. The resource room is located off the decking near the Year 2 classrooms. The Book Fair will run from Monday to Friday and will be open for families from 8:30-8:50am and between 3:00-3:45pm each day.

Families will be able to visit the Book Fair to purchase books and other items. Purchases that are made by families earn learning and literacy resources for our school. Parents will be able to enter the resource room if they show evidence of 2 doses of a COVID 19 vaccine or a medical exemption. Please remember to follow the COVID safe requirements in primary schools and ensure that you maintain a physical distance and wear a face mask.

During the week each student will be given time to visit the book fair and make a wish list. If you are unable to come to school to visit the book fair with your child you are also able to purchase books online and provide the payment receipt number to the school. Your child will then be able to bring the books home that week.

2022 School Council

Following on from the call for nominations for our School Council I can confirm that we have successfully received 6 nominations from members of our school sommunity. As the number of nominations is equal to the number of vacancies we can declare that all positions have now been filled successfully and we will not need to hold a ballot.

All 2022 School Council members are:

Karlie Suttie - parent category

Kylie Williams - parent category

Stephanie Harrip - parent category

Sarah Bannister - parent category

Amelia Smith - parent category

Jenny Maypiece - parent category

Simone Armstrong - parent category

Jeewat Kaur Singh - parent category

Michelle Mackenlay - employee category

Sue Lumley - employee category

Sharon Diehl - employee category

Lee Russell - employee category

I would like to take this opportunity to thank our School Council members for their interest in supporting our school.

Respectful Behaviours

School communities have demonstrated incredible resilience over the COVID-19 pandemic. As we return to onsite learning, it's important for everyone to be respectful and kind to each other.

Instances of violence and aggression towards school staff from parents, carers or other adult members of the school community can have a significant impact on the health, safety and wellbeing of the person who experiences this, as well as those around them. The impact can also be felt by the wider school community.

By treating everyone with respect, parents/carers and schools can make sure students feel supported and cared for by:

modelling positive behaviour to their child/children and to the school community
communicating politely and respectfully with all members of the school community
working with the school to achieve the best outcomes for their child/children
communicating constructively with the school
making use of the expected processes and protocols when raising concerns
following the school's processes for communication with staff and making complaints
treating all school staff, students, and other members of the school community with respect.

Learn more about the new Department of Education and Training policy - Respectful Behaviours within the School Community. Respectful Behaviours within the School Community Policy (education.vic.gov.au)

NAPLAN School Readiness Test and Coordinated Practice Test

This year our school will be transitioning to undertaking NAPLAN online. As part of this transition, we will be administering a NAPLAN Online School Readiness Test (SRT). The SRT is intended to enable us to confirm our technical capacity and to assist in determining the most effective way to deliver NAPLAN Online in our school this year. This test will be conducted at our school on Thursday 17th March.

The SRT contains the following sample online tests:

• 1 Omnibus test – this includes questions from the reading, conventions of language and numeracy domains – for Years 3 and 5.

• 1 Writing test – for Year 5.

(Please note that Year 3 students are only able to complete the omnibus test, as the Year 3 writing test will be a pen and paper assessment in 2022).

On the 24th March at 11:30 there will be a Coordinated Practice Test. All students in Years 3 and 5 will undertake a test online to prepare them for the actual tests that will be held in May.

It is important to remember that the SRT and Coordinated Practice test are not formal assessments and students will not be graded for any of the tests. However, student participation will assist in our school confirming that we are all ready to undertake the actual NAPLAN Online tests in May.

If you have any concerns about your child participating in the SRT or Coordinated Practice Test, please discuss these with his/her classroom teacher. Support can be arranged for students with disabilities, if the student regularly uses similar support for classroom assessment tasks.

For more information about NAPLAN Online, please visit the NAP website at www.nap.edu.au/online-assessment

School Canteen

Don'y forget that our school canteen is open Tuesdays and Thursdays. Parents can pre-order lunches using the Qkr! application (see the office if you need help with this). The canteen also opens it's window at recess and lunch for children to purchase selected items over the counter. Students will need a few coins to purchase items such as chips or icy poles.

Principal's Awards

We congratulate the following students who have received the Principal's Award for their PLT.