Dear Parents and Families,

This has been a challenging week for the school with many student students and teachers hit hard by influenza, viruses, coughs, colds and Covid! We have had Mrs Brabham away all week plus Tammy away for the first half of the week as both have been unwell. We wish them both a speedy recovery. On Monday, we had 13 students away, Tuesday 11 students away, Wednesday 7 students away and today we have 10 away. Plus more students sent home each day who are unwell. I have never known a time like this in a school.

A huge thank you to Miss Thompson who was the teacher in charge on Monday and Tuesday while I was in Melbourne. She did a brilliant job, looking after the students, keeping in contact with me, answering the many phone calls and all the other little things that happen every day at school. Thank you to Mrs Murray and Mrs McNaughton who were great supports and helped keep our regular classes going both days.

Eisteddfod

Each morning, the school is sounding very musical and joyous as we have been busy practising daily for the upcoming Eisteddfod. Mrs Huf has been in for some extra practise sessions and the accompanying pianist will be here on Wednesday afternoon for a final practise with the students. We are hoping that we will have all the students there on the day! As we have had lots of student miss practises, it has definitely been a challenge for Mrs Huf to pull it all together. We wish them well for their performances on Thursday.

Mrs Bell

Mrs Bell will be away for the rest of Term 2. Her and her husband John are travelling by car up to Queensland for a holiday. We hope that they have a wonderful time and drive safely.

Principal's Conference

On Monday and Tuesday this week, I attended for the first time the Education State Principals Conference at the Melbourne Convention Exhibition Centre. The theme for this years conference was 'Stronger Together : Every Student, Every School'. There were many interesting keynote presenters from universities across Australia and New Zealand sharing their current research on education and the Hon. James Merlino (Minister for Education). Many presenters were sharing about inclusion for every student and concentrating on the well-being of students and staff. I attended small group workshops on - Emotional Intelligence, Developing pathways in Maths, Reflecting on the power of principal leadership on disability inclusion and Cafe Well-Being (creating a living workshop of conversations of well-being and inclusion). It was a great opportunity for professional development.

End of Semester One Reports

The teachers had a successful day writing reports yesterday, even though Miss Thompson and I have had some computer glitches along the way. Our reports have now returned to the pre-Covid reporting format. Each student will receive a personal comment from their main teacher about their achievements and future learning/areas of improvement for Personal Learning, English and Mathematics. The report will include a table with a five-point scale rating the quality of achievement and progress of student achievement and growth for the semester and over the last 12 months (except for Foundation students). Students will also receive a curriculum overview comment for Science, Art, Music and Humanities.

Bus route change

We have put in a proposal to the Student Transport Department to have the Henty Hwy bus route slightly changed. This change will affect families on the Northern side of the bus run. A note will be sent out to the families that this route change will affect. Some times and pick up/drop off locations have been changed. We hope that this change will suit some of our families better. We are proposing to have this route change commence from Tuesday 14th June. We will advise you as soon as possible if this date changes.

Footy Clinic

Tammy has booked a football clinic run by the Western District region of the AFL for Monday 20th June. The clinic will take place at school. Years F/1 will be at 9 am and Years 3/6 will be at 10 am. Please make sure the students are in their sports uniform and sneakers for this day.

Standing Tall Program

Cavendish is now in the process of becoming a school partner with the Standing Tall Program in Hamilton. We look forward to sharing more information about this program over the year. Please think about becoming a mentor or supporting the program in any way.

Exciting delivery!

Claire Quinn has organised some new garden beds for the vegetable garden on behalf of the school. She will be replacing some of the rotted timber garden beds with two more of the aluminium beds which will last longer. Thank you Paul Quinn for delivering and we will see them soon in the garden ready to be planted up.

Have a lovely weekend,

Lisa Ferrier

Art

With Mrs McNaughton