Dear Parents and Carers,

I would like to extend a very warm welcome back to all students and their families/carers for the final term of 2022. We have certainly achieved a lot this year and I am sure you will all agree that the growth in student learning behaviours and academic achievement has, on the most part, been very pleasing. Already this term we have seen everyone return to school in a settled way and are already building on their progress from Term 3.

Term 4 is always an action packed period of time full of opportunities and learning experiences that encourage students to put all those newly learned skills to the test. There will be plenty of events to showcase learning from this year and also prepare for the year ahead. Our hope is for all students to make the most of every opportunity, taking time to focus on the learning process and understand that when they work hard, good things will happen.

Term 4 is also about wearing our school floppy hats. Despite the weather, there is a 'No Hat, No Play' policy for Term 1 and 4 each year.

Looking to the term ahead, there are many events to look forward to including:

Swimming for Preps and Grades 1, 2 and 4.
The Writers’ festival
Grade 6 Passport to Success
Grade 5 Leadership Training
Grade 2 Sleepover
The Kinder Transition Program
Prep - 2 Athletics
The Young Authors’ Celebration
Grade 3 Camp - Log Cabin Lodge
Prep Excursion to Pevan and Sarah
Grade 6 Graduation
Meet Your Teacher Day
Picnic Day
Grade 5 and 6 Health Days
End of Year Student Reports.

In order to keep up to date with school dates, please keep an eye on the newsletter where you will find the most up to date calendar for the term.

Staffing

As we return after the holidays there are a few staffing changes that are taking place this term.

Mr Jarrod Rodgers has been appointed to a Leading Teacher Role at Buninyong Primary School and will not be returning. We thank Jarrod for all his work over the past few years and wish him well for the future. Brandon Egan will continue to replace Jarrod in Grade 5/6.

Mrs Niki Loader has accepted a position with Revolution Print to take up a position in the marketing field, a life long dream. Niki has done a fabulous job coordinating DASH and overseeing the school OHS organisation. Greg will be taking on Niki's role.

Alice McQuinn has taken leave for the remainder of the year. Alice has been working as an Education Support staff member and supporting students to maintain their focus in class. We welcome Pooja who replaces Alice as an Education Support worker.

We thank all of these staff for their services to Delacombe Primary School and wish them every success for the future. I am sure we will see them visit from time to time.

Keeping up to Date with News

A reminder for all parents and carers that the official school communication portal is Compass. Having Compass downloaded onto your phone or device and knowing your login details will assist in keeping everyone up to date with school events and organisation. If you are having trouble accessing your parent Compass portal, please contact the office for support.

In addition, this appeared in the newspaper recently which may interest anyone who would like to learn some more about using Compass.

Traffic Safety Around the School.

Being safe on the roads surrounding Delacombe Primary School is of the utmost importance and recently we have had a couple of close calls on Greenhalghs Road. These close calls have resulted from students crossing the road in front of the stadium rather than using the children’s crossing. Given the increased traffic at the moment due to road works on Wiltshire Lane this area requires all students and their parents and carers to be extra vigilant.

Please only use the school crossings that are available around the school. Taking those extra couple of minutes to use the crossing could save a member of our school community from serious injury. We will be mentioning this at assembly but would also like every family to chat about this at home as well.

Thanks in advance for your support.

Delacombe Kids Shine During Commonwealth Games Announcement

This week, we have had four students represent Delacombe PS at a major announcement about the Commonwealth Games. Elijah, Lachlan, Huon and Ben joined with political heavy weights and sporting royalty at Mars Stadium to announce that Ballarat will host the Athletics and the marathon while Creswick will be home to the mountain biking. In addition, there was an announcement that the games village will be created at the old stockyard site... just around the corner. Maybe we will see some athletes in and around Delacombe during the games. Well done to these students for representing the school to the highest of levels.

Concert Success

The school concert ‘Absolute Legends’ was a huge success. Although exhausted, the staff and students successfully manoeuvred through the practise sessions and three performances. The ticket sales were extremely strong with about 1800 tickets sold over the 3 performances. The overall profit after taking out expenses was $10000

After such a wonderful fundraising effort, it is always good to ensure the money is spent on students presently at the school rather than tucking it away for a rainy day. Our JSC is leading up the inquiry into options for the money to be spent on.

Transition Programs

Our transition programs are in full swing at the moment to ensure students are well prepared for the next steps in their schooling life.

The Kinder Transition Program continues with Kinder students visiting the school for hour-long sessions with our current Prep teachers. This is designed to give students a taste for primary school life and also help them to feel connected to the school.

The Year 6 students have begun their Passport to Success Program that assists the students to understand what skills are required when transitioning into secondary school.

The Year 5 students begin their leadership program which consists of a leadership day that leads to school captain/ house captain applications and speeches.

We are currently looking for any late Prep enrolments for 2023. There is still time to get your name on the list for our transition programs and have your child included in the planning for 2023. If you know of anyone who is yet to enrol their child for 2023, please give them a gentle reminder to contact the school office.

Sporting Colours Day

A huge thanks to Miss Gerard and Mr Cox who organised the very successful Sporting Colours Day on the last day of Term 3. It was fabulous to see all the students, staff and some parents donning their favourite sporting colours. So many teams and sports were represented on the day.

The annual Teacher v Student football match was replaced with a goal kicking competition due to wet weather. The might of the teachers took on the confident senior students to take pot shots from different angles in front of goal. It was Mrs McDonald who saved the day for the teachers as she was able to unconventionally slot her kicks through the uprights more than anyone else. Well done to Mrs McDonald and everyone who took part.

Special thanks to those who donated a gold coin on the day to raise money for The Cancer Council. We were able to raise

Parent Liaison Group Meeting

Just a reminder that our next Parent Liaison Group meeting will take place on Thursday October 27 at 2.20pm in the staffroom.

The agenda for this meeting will include looking at some Attitude to School Survey Data, discussing school communication processes and reflecting on our transition programs.

Although we have tried to have a good cross section of parents from across the school, if you haven't previously attended and would like to come along and join in the discussions, you are most welcome.

Facility Work Around School

There has been a fair bit happening around the school during the last month. Work has included:

Mod 5 Portable:

Considerable work has been undertaken to place the new Mod 5 portable in the area to the west of the school. Handover is set for this week. The fence will be relocated to behind the portable in early November and the pathway will be realigned to run alongside the new fence.

Asbestos Removal

During the holidays, asbestos containing eaves around the admin building were removed and replaced. This was important work to have completed during the school holidays and leaves us relatively asbestos free.

New Signage

You may have noticed some subtle and not so subtle signage going up around the school. There are new signs on the gates to help keep them closed and directional signage to guide visitors to the office. These signs have come from discussions had at our Parent Liaison Group and also gathering feedback from visitors to the school. Hopefully these will assist with the flow of foot traffic through the school grounds.

Unwanted Visitors at School

Over the past few weeks we have had some unwanted visitors entering our school grounds and buildings overnight. Luckily there has been no damage done but a few things have been taken.

We really pride ourselves on being able to make our school grounds available to the community after school hours and on holidays. We know that many people use the facilities at the school and do so in a way that cares for the buildings and grounds. We would like to keep it this way so are asking everyone to be vigilant when in or around the school by reporting any suspicious behaviour immediately to the police.

Thanks in advance.

COVID Rules Update

You may be aware that the Victorian Government has announced changes to the COVID-19 isolation requirements.

This means that from 11.59pm on Wednesday 12 October, the mandatory orders around isolation for people with COVID-19 have ended and instead we move to health advice and recommendations for people with COVID-19 or COVID-19-like symptoms.

Our school will continue to adhere to the Department of Health’s recommendations to ensure that our school remains a safe environment for our staff and students.

The Department of Health strongly recommends that students and school staff:

· who test positive to COVID-19 stay home and isolate for 5 days and do not attend school after 5 days if they are still symptomatic

· who are symptomatic but have not tested positive not attend school. This does not include students with pre-existing conditions such as hay fever.

Parents and carers are recommended to continue to report their child having COVID-19 to both the school and the Department of Health.

We will, however, no longer report occurrences of positive cases to the school community.

We ask parents and carers to continue to remain vigilant in preventing COVID-19 transmission. Any student who is unwell should continue to remain at home. This is about keeping students healthy and well in our school and reducing the spread of both COVID-19 and other respiratory diseases.

Free rapid antigen tests are available at the school for those who need them.

Parents and carers will be contacted if their child shows symptoms while at school.

Students who wish to wear a mask should continue to do so.

To keep our school as safe as possible, we will also continue to use air purifiers and other COVID-19 prevention measures.

Thanks for your continued efforts to keep our school community safe and well.

Term 3 - Footy Kicking Comp