SKiPPS Newsletter

Important Notices

Mothers Day thank-yous

Last Friday, we celebrated Mother's day at the school in style with two wonderful parent-led events.

 

The SKiPPS tradition of the Mother's Day lunch continued and it was great to hear that so many of our SKiPPS mums found the time to celebrate and have fun at the amazing event at the Prince of Wales. A huge thank you to Terri-Ann Stynes and her team for their work to coordinate the afternoon. 

 

As well as being a much-deserved celebration, the event also served a fantastic purpose by raising $5,700 for the SKiPPS school camps fund - a resource that we use to support all families send their children to our school camps and excursions. We see these activities as such a key part of your child's time at our school and this money will allow us to ensure that nobody will miss out for financial reasons.

Before school last Friday, we also enjoyed what we hope will be a new SKiPPS tradition of a dads-run Mother's Day Breakfast at school. A huge thank you to Lyndon Galvin and his team for coming up with this great idea and then making it happen. Mums enjoyed croissants from Bread Club, coffee from Banff and music from our talented dads in the sunshine. We would also like to thank these suppliers for their generosity in helping to make this event happen.

 

 

NAPLAN

Today saw the start of our NAPLAN testing for 2022. The National Assessment Program Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) are a set of standardised tests completed each May by students across Australia in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9.

 

There are four tests that each child completes;

  • Writing
  • Reading
  • Numeracy
  • Language Conventions (Spelling and Grammar)

For the first time this year our students will be completing the tests online (apart from the Year 3 Writing which has remained paper-based). 

 

Today's test was Writing and students in both Years 3 and 5 did themselves proud by completing some great pieces. Over the next ten days, students will complete the other tests and the results will be provided to the school and families in September. 

 

If your child is in Years 3 or 5, we ask for your support in ensuring they are at school on time and well-rested for the next fortnight so they can show their very best during the assessments.

Swimming

At the end of last week, notices were sent home about our upcoming swimming program for all year levels.

 

All Victorian Primary Schools are required to provide instruction for all students to meet the requirements of the swimming and water safety curriculum, as such, swimming is a key part of the school's curriculum and all students are expected to take part.

 

After two years of lockdowns, we are excited to get back into the MSAC pool and to help all of our students catch up on any lost swimming and water safety lessons that may have been missed during lockdowns. 

 

We have also been able to keep the costs for this year's program very low ($15 per child) as we have three years' worth of Education Department 'Swimming in Schools' funding that has allowed us to heavily subsidise the fees charged to parents. 

 

If you have not yet made payment or provided consent on Compass, please do so as soon as possible.

Rapid Antigen Test distribution

Today at school your child has been given a further pack of five Rapid Antigen Tests to bring home in their school bag.

 

We ask that you continue to test them at home twice each week to help us identify any covid cases that may be asymptomatic. 

 

If your child does display any symptoms, we ask that you complete a RAT immediately. If your child returns a positive result, please refer to our previous communications on Compass for the steps that you need to follow.

 

Currently, we do not know how long the Education Department will continue to provide RATs to students and will keep families updated if we receive further packs to go home.

Tax-Deductable contributions to SKiPPS

For the first time in 2022, SKiPPS is operating two Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) funds which allow parents and community members to make tax-deductible donations.

 

As we approach the end of the tax year, we ask parents to bear us in mind if they are looking to receive the tax benefits that charitable donations can bring.

 

We have two funds - a School Building Fund (which is then used to maintain and upgrade our school buildings) and also a School Library Fund (which is used to build and maintain our school library). All donations would be gratefully received.

 

if you wish to donate please contact Nova, our Business Manager at nova.whitehead@education.vic.gov.au. To find out more about the tax benefits of donating to a DGR fund, please speak to your accountant.

2023 School Tours

Even though it feels like the school year has just begun, we have set dates for school tours for prospective parents who are interested in enrolling their children at SKiPPS in 2023.

 

 

If you know of any parents of students starting school next year, please encourage them to contact the office.