Principal's Report

WELCOME BACK

Welcome back everyone and hope you had the opportunity to enjoy some of the lovely weather over the past fortnight. It’s all systems go at school and we’re away to a good start for term 4.  A big welcome to new families who started with us on Monday. 

We have lots to look forward to in term 4 including, starting our very own before and after school program, Grade 6 Camp (later this week), our Pre-Schooler Program (starting this week) the Solar Boat Challenge (next week…fingers crossed with regards to the weather), a Book Fair, Grandparents and Special Friends Day, Woorabinda Camp, a Sleepover for the Buninyong grade 2 and Scotsburn P-2s, the P-2 Sports Day, Swimming Programs, Life Ed, more inter-school sporting events, Parent Teacher Interviews, another Blue Light Disco, Orientation Day and Grade 6 Graduation.  A calendar of events is included in this newsletter.

A reminder to everyone that school hats must be worn during break times during terms 1 and 4.  If your child doesn’t have a hat, please get them one as soon as possible.  It is your choice whether your child wears a broad brimmed hat or the bucket hat.  We have both in supply at our uniform shop.

Start dates for 2019

We know that some of you will already be planning summer holidays and are keen to know school start dates for 2019. 

• Teachers are officially back at work on Tuesday, January 29
• All students start back on Thursday, January 31

Note: Book collection days will be Friday January 25 and Tuesday January 29.

For those planning a little further ahead:

• Term 1 ends Friday, April 5
• Term 2 starts Monday April 23

TRANSITION FROM KINDER TO PREP UNDERWAY

We all know that it’s a significant step from kinder to primary school, so putting things in place to take the anxiety out of that process is a good thing. For us that began with visits from our local pre-school, which took place last term.  The next step is our Pre-Scholer program which starts this week.  As the photos from last year’s program suggest the Pre-Schooler Program is a great way for our future preps to become familiar and comfortable with the school environment. 

Pre-Schooler program reminder:

Pre-Schooler Program – Our 4 year old pre-school students are invited to come along to these sessions which starts this week.  Sessions at our Buninyong Campus will run on Wednesdays and Fridays, with participants coming to one or the other, not both.  Sessions at our Scotsburn Campus will run on Wednesdays.  The dates for this year’s program are:

Buninyong Campus:                     Scotsburn Campus (Wednesdays only):

Session 1 – October 10th or 12th                     Session 1 – October 10th

Session 2 – October 17th or 20th                    Session 2 – October 17th

Session 3 - October 24th or 26th                      Session 3 - October 24th

Session 4 – Oct 31st or Nov 2nd                       Session 4 - November 2nd

Sessions 1 & 2 will run from 10 - 11am and sessions 3 & 4 from 9:30am – 11am. 

To enrol your child in this program, simply call the ladies in the office and register their name 5341 3560.

PARENT OPINION SURVEY RESULTS

We now have our results for the 2018 Parent Opinion Surveys.  We had 88 at Buninyong and 18 at Scotsburn complete the survey and we’re most appreciative for each of those parents who took the time to complete the survey and provide their feedback. 

The results for both campuses are really pleasing and present as a strong endorsement of the school.  One of the questions asked for a sense of general satisfaction, for which the responses were very high, which summarises the overall results.

As always, there are areas of strength and others that suggest opportunities for improvement.  At upcoming parent forums we’ll take opportunities to look closely at the results with parents to help us better understand parent perceptions and gather ideas for future directions.  If you’d like the opportunity to be part of these discussions, come along to the next PLP meeting (Nov 1, 2:30pm, School Staff Room) or the next Scotsburn Community Meeting (Oct 23, 9:00am, old school building).  The October School Council meeting will also feature an in depth discussion of the results. 

As always, the surveys provided the opportunity for parents to make comments in addition to their responses to specific questions.  Unfortunately we can’t direct responses to those questions to the relevant individuals as participation was anonymous, but encourage anyone who is ever concerned about anything to make a time to catch up with Bernie.

FOOTY COLOURS DAY

The last day of term 3 always has a really nice atmosphere with everyone dressed in their footy colours and ready to finish the term with a bit of fun.  Everyone got in the spirit and we had some great outfits across the school.  As always, the day featured a Staff Vs Grade 6 football match which was enjoyed by everyone.  The grade 6s entered the match with very high hopes, but unfortunately faced a ‘West Coast like’ opposition and so fell short.

FACILITIES WORKS OVER THE BREAK

Paint Job in Student Toilets - Holiday periods always present good opportunities to get a few jobs done.  Over the break we have had the internal walls and ceilings of the junior and senior toilets painted.  Students from grades 2-5 were involved in the selection of colours.  The junior students selected an ‘aqua’ colour which is quite bright and the senior students went with ‘gold dust, which is very royal.  The next step is to install signage that was designed by students in cooperation with one of our mums, Catriona Fox.  A big thankyou to Catriona for her efforts with this projects.  Hopefully we’ll get the signs up in the coming few days.

New Shade Sail – Most would have noticed that the shade sail over the 5-6 play equipment was hanging by a thread by the end of term 3.  Once again, we asked the students to select their favourite colour from the options available and they came up with a very bright blue.  They chose well, because it looks terrific.  This was funded by the proceeds from this year’s concert.  Funds raised through the concert will also fund a makeover of the canteen and the construction of a stage at Buninyong and a project (yet to be determined) at Scotsburn.

Landscaping Around the Gym – As mentioned in the Base 1270 section of this newsletter, quite a bit of work has been completed in and around the gym, which is a big improvement.