Principal's Report 

Dear Parents and Carers,

Year 5/6 Camp: The 5/6s have recently undertaken an educational tour of the national capital. Students were given the opportunity to participate in a variety of educational programs with a focus on Australia’s history, culture, heritage and democracy. 

The Australian Government recognises the importance of all young Australians being able to visit the national capital as part of their Civics and Citizenship education. To assist families in meeting the cost of the excursion the Australian Government contributed funding of $67.80 per students under the Parliament and Civics Education Rebate program towards those costs. The rebate is paid directly to the school upon completion of the excursion and was factored into the total cost of camp for families. Each student was charged $67.80 less than the amount we paid per student. 

I was fortunate enough to join them and enjoyed many new experiences. The camp was a fun-filled, jam-packed week, with about 4-5 places to visit each day. The journey to and from on the coach was long, however the breaks for snacks and toilet stops along the way helped break up the trip. The bus drivers stayed with us for the whole journey, and were very accommodating and helpful, sharing their knowledge along the way. Our bus driver shared plenty of dad jokes which the adults found hilarious!  

Year 3/4 Camp: Mr Radford joined the students and teachers on the 3-day Camp to Kangaroobie this week. This camp provides plenty of experiences to challenge the students such a rope course, orienteering and experiences with farm animals. The first day included a very long walk that ended at the beach. Fun was had by all.

Camp Lost Property: There is a lot of lost property from the 3/4 camp and it is laid out in the main building outside the staffroom. If you would like to come and look to see if any belongs to your child, please feel free. We will have it on display for about a week before we will need to dispose of anything left. If you are unsure of where this location is please ask at our office.

Camp Thank-You: I would like to thank the staff who went to camp, taking time away from the families and outside school commitments to ensure these great events can go ahead and our students can participate in these great experiences. I think it is also important to share with our community that since Time In Lieu is now a requirement to provide to all staff participating, except members of the Principal Class team, many schools cancelled their planned camps this year or reduced the number of nights away, changing the 5-day Canberra Camp to a 3-day camp, as the majority of the cost for Time In Lieu comes from the already tight school budgets. The government recently provided all schools with additional funds to cover the overnight payment, however this does not cover the entire cost of Time in Lieu. We made the decision to go ahead this year and will need to review and ensure our Budget can support this added cost into the future.

Road Safety: Please speak to your child about crossing the road safely, using the supervised school crossing. We had a near miss on Monday where one of our parents nearly hit one of our students who darted across the road to catch the bus. This frightened both the parent and the student and could have had very severe consequences for our school community if she was not able to react as quickly as she did.

It is also important that as adult role models we encourage our children to enter and exit the car safely when dropping them off. Stopping in the middle of the road to let your child out is not safe for your child, or for other cars using the road. If the council patrolling the school at pick up and drop off times witness this they can issue a fine. 

NAPLAN Results: This year’s NAPLAN results for Year 3 and 5 students have arrived. We are currently in the process of placing these in envelopes, ready for collection from the front office. If you would like it to be sent home with your child, please contact the office to let us know. Any results not collected by Friday 4th August will be placed in the post and should arrive at the address we have listed for your child the following week. Please see the attached link to help you understand the changes to the reporting of NAPLAN this year. This is also available in multiple languages through this link.  https://www.nap.edu.au/naplan/for-parents-carers

Prep Enrolments 2024: We have started to conduct small group tours for potential 2024 Prep enrolments. If you have a preschool age child or you know someone who does, please ask them to call the school on 9743 5818 to book into one of these tours. We start our Transition Program in November and we would like as many children as possible to attend to help their start to school life be positive.

Parent Concerns: It is important than when issues arise that concern you, you seek help and support to resolve them as quickly as possible for the benefit of the children’s wellbeing and learning. The education of a child is a shared responsibility between family, the school, other students and the broader community. I have included a document the Department has created to help us all understand how we can all support the children. 

High Levels of Learning for All

Michelle Costa

Principal