Important Notices
Student-Free Day - Teacher Professional Practice Day
Later this term, our school will running a student-free day for the purposes of Teacher Professional Practice. This is an important day for our teaching staff to complete professional readings, perform assessments and planning and other aspects of their role. These days are an entitlement for teachers under the new schools agreement which has been in the media recently.
Due to staffing difficulties in the sector currently, the DET is advising that schools take these days as student-free days (as we did in term 2 of this year).
We will be taking this day on Monday 5th September. Families will need to make alternate childcare arrangements on this day.
Team Kids will be providing a full-day program of care on this day for families that require it.
Lost Property
Our lost property at the school is currently looking very full - literally thousands of dollars of jackets, coats, jumpers and other belongings.
If your child is missing something, please take 5 minutes to take a look - the lost property is located just off the quadrangle - inside near the piano by the Year 3/4 classrooms.
It would be wonderful to have a parent or two who were willing to go through the lost property to sort and return any items with name labels on them - if you have an hour or two to help us out, please contact Michelle on michelle.bove@education.vic.gov.au
Any items without names on them will be donated to charity at the end of term.
Foundation Firefighters Visit
Last week our Foundation classes were visited by a team of firefighters from Windsor Station (including a familiar face in Senior Firefighter, SKiPPS parent and ex-SKiPPS teacher Bede Stallard). The classes were fascinated to hear about fire safety from our visitors and the very important jobs that they do to keep us safe.
The team will be returning later this week and the Foundation classes will get to take a look at their fire truck.
Maths Games Days
Recently selected students from Years 3, 4 and 5 have represented SKiPPS in the statewide Mathematical Association of Victoria (MAV) Maths Games Days.
The students chosen for these events travelled to other schools where they competed as teams of four against students from other Government, Catholic and Private schools. The rounds include quickfire mental maths knock-outs, problem-solving and strategy games.
The standard of Maths and the challenge faced by our students was incredibly high with incredibly complex problems and rapid mental processing provided. We couldn't be prouder of how they rose to this - showing the perfect kind of growth mindset and enjoyment of 'struggle' that we know is a key part of genuine learning.
Congratulations to the following students for their excellent effort representing our school;
Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 |
|---|---|---|
Aurelia AM (3/4L) | Veneta A (3/4L) | Evie B (5/6M) |
Hugo B (3/4J) | Xavier B (3/4J) | Jai C (5/6L) |
Alessia D (3/4PC) | Shiya F (3/4L) | Katya D (5/6L) |
Beatrice M (3/4A) | Leo KS (3/4J) | Munroe G (5/6S) |
Archie P (3/4A) | Archie R (3/4A) | Ethan G (5/6H) |
Gilbert P (3/4J) | Thom R (3/4L) | Willow H (5/6H) |
Rosa S (3/4L) | Margot S (3/4J) | Yen M (5/6M) |
Kathir S (3/4J) | Olivia W (3/4PC) | Bas W (5/6S) |
Learning by Doing
With Science Week taking place last week, our Year 5/6 students have been learning about technology and 'simple machines' in class.
This week they took part in an Incursion 'Learning By Doing' - a woodworking activity that allowed them to put their science and technology learning and understanding into action. Using woodworking benches, saws and other tools, the students worked together to create individual products.
Student Well Being
Last week's webinar, Reduce Chaos: Increase Calm & Flow, was another great success with many parents sharing how "timely" it was!
Your school has permission to share the replay (to parents directly, not on any public social media thanks) with your parents and carers:
Reduce Chaos: Increase Calm & Flow
presented by Carley McGauran
It will be available to access until September 20.
We look forward to the final webinar (more details will be sent out early Term 4), in the meantime you may like to add it to your school calendar:
A Thank-you
We were excited to receive a surprise package this week containing 12 copies of 'Wylah - the Koorie Warrior', a fantasy novel for children inspired by First Nations history and grounded in culture. The author, Jordan Gould is a Peek Whurrong man from Warrnambool.
The novels were an incredibly generous donation from the Hills O'Boyle family (Sorcha in 3/4J) and will be placed into our classroom libraries for students across the school to enjoy and be inspired by. A huge thank you to the family for this lovely gesture.