Dear Families,

It has been a really busy week this week at Echuca Twin Rivers Primary School. Next week the school starts a review process to reflect on what is happening, and set some clear goals and guidelines for the next 4 years. This is a very big process for the school to undertake and involves a panel of people who provide their expertise and insight into the school. Once the new 4 year Strategic Plan is developed, it will be shared with the school community.

Emergency Management

As you would be aware, the Echuca Twin Rivers Specialist School had an incident on Wednesday, upon which a Code Black was issued. A Code Black is for a lockdown of both sites and required our students to return to class a couple of minutes earlier than the scheduled bell. Our primary school students were not in any danger at any point. This is a state wide procedure that all schools follow to ensure everyone's safety. As we are now co-located, this was a precautionary measure.

Communication with families was made as soon as the lockdown was lifted via Sentral. Confidentiality does not allow us to divulge specific details of the incident to families.

I thank the staff and students for how quickly and calmly they responded to the situation.

Book Week

Book Week is next week.

Our Book Week dress up day will be Friday the 30th of October. We will be holding a virtual Book Week Parade and this will be held via Webex. Parents and friends will be able to join in on the event. Webex meeting details will be published on Class Dojo.

Parent Opinion Survey

Our school is conducting a survey to find out what parents think of our school. The Parent Opinion Survey is an annual survey offered by the Department of Education and Training that is conducted amongst all parents. It is designed to assist schools in gaining an understanding of parents’ perceptions of school climate, student behaviour, student engagement and experiences of remote and flexible learning. Our school will use the survey results to help inform and direct future school planning and improvement strategies. All parents will be invited to participate in this year’s survey. All responses to the survey are anonymous. This year, the Parent Opinion Survey will be conducted from Monday 12th October to Friday 13th November.

The survey will be conducted

online only takes 20 minutes to complete. An email along with a secure pin code will be distributed via email and we encourage all our families to participate.

School Photos

With the easing of restrictions in Regional Victoria around School Photos, we have been fortunate to be able to offer this service again to our families.

They will be restricted on the group photos, and will only be able to do individual photos, but can put these together into a grade set.

School photos are taking place on Tuesday, November 10th. Further information regarding payment will be sent home next week.

Uniform

Thank you to our students and the support of our families in ensuring our students are in full school uniform everyday. Our students look great in our uniform and it helps develop pride and a sense of belonging. Uniform spots checks will happen throughout the week with all students in full school uniform being award a Wally Sticker.

Black pants and shorts are not part of our school uniform. As part of our uniform policy, all shorts and pants must be navy blue. Students arriving at school, who are not in uniform will be asked to change.

As of 2021, students will be required to wear black shoes. These shoes can be black runners or black school shoes but they must be black.

Melbourne Cup Day Holiday

Just a reminder that our school will be operating as a normal school day on Monday 2nd of November, the day prior to Melbourne Cup Day. Tuesday the 3rd of November is Melbourne Cup Day and this day is a public holiday.

Interschool Sport

On Wednesday, our 5/6 students competed against Rochester for a round of interschool sports. The students participated in soccer, netball and softball. It was a great success and all of the students enjoyed the chance to play some of the sports that they have not had the chance to participate in over the last 6 months. Our students participated very well, demonstrated excellent sportsmanship and also had a lot of fun. We'd like to thank Rochester Primary School for their efforts on the day too.

School Wide Positive Behaviour

Next week's focus is area specific addressing Outside the School Behaviours including coming and going from school.

Wishing you all a very happy and enjoyable long weekend and may the best team win on Saturday night.

Kind regards,

Rob and Anthea

From the Office