From Christian's desk....

Camp Pick up arrangements

Tomorrow our Year 3 and Year 5 Camp groups will be returning to school at approximately 2:45pm. As such I am asking that we work together to control the safe movement of our community. The following arrangements are in place:

The Year 5 Camp buses will unload on Campaspe Drive parallel with the school's Northern Staff Carpark.
The Northern Staff Carpark will be closed for the day and used as a pick-up point for the Year 5 Camp students.
The Year 3 Camp group will unload and be picked up at the 'Drop-Off Zone' parallel to the Southern Staff Carpark.
Staff will park on the Prep/Junior oval and, as per the norm, in the Southern Staff Carpark.
Prep, Year 1, Year 2, Year 4 and Year 6 students will share the school ovals and Middle School Playground for the day. The Prep Playground will remain 'Preps only'.

Please see the attached image for clarification.

Help with the design of our Prep Courtyard

Next year we are remodelling the garden between The Hill classrooms and the Junior School Portables. If you’d like, your family may wish to attempt to design the space. You may like to draw inspiration from the Canteen area, the current landscaped areas on The Hill or perhaps a more ‘earthy’ look. Please provide me a copy and submit designs to https://draffin.com.au/news/draffin-design-comp/

Please see the map below as an area guide.

Upcoming Family Events - School Camp Out & Roller Skating

Two great family events coming up, which are testament to both the hard work of a small number of dedicated parents and the strength of our school community.

MOTHS (Men Of The Hills) are once again running their Dads & Kids Camp Out on the Oval on Saturday November 9th. This was hugely successful last year, a terrific opportunity for dads to show off their camping and barbeque skills and enjoy quality 'dad time' with their kids. This is my first CHPS Camp Out and I'm certainly looking forward to it - I hope you can join me, dads!

Not to be outdone, CHAPS (Croydon Hills Association of Parents) have organised a family Rollerskating and Rollerblading evening for the following weekend: Friday November 15th. This is not a fundraiser, but an opportunity for parents and their kids to have a fun evening on wheels or blades - or a social time for parents while their kids do the hard work on the skating rink.

One of my first impressions as new principal was the strength and cohesion of the CHPS community. We are blessed with a group of brilliant parents who willingly add a deal of extra work to their already busy lives to ensure that CHAPS and MOTHS are vibrant parts of our school and its wider community. As well as much-needed fundraising dollars, both groups offer creative social opportunities for parents and children and I urge you to support their great work.

Camps

Carol, Amy and I have enjoyed participating in Year 3 Camp at Toolangi and Year 5 Camp Coonawarra this week. Along with last week's Year 4 Camp at Manyung in Mt Eliza, these camps are providing amazing opportunities for our students to experience a range of fun and challenging activities, designed to encourage personal growth, resilience and social adaptability in Victoria's great outdoors. Camps are an integral facet of our school's holistic approach to education, the lessons they teach our children go beyond academic improvement.

The smiles on the students' faces show best the positive impact these camp experiences will have on their lives, for many years to come. And the staff certainly seem to be having a great time too!

Melbourne Cup Monday – No Canteen Service

Whilst Monday 4th November is officially a school day at Croydon Hills I am fully aware that many families take an extended long weekend holiday. If that is the case for your family please enter a parent approved absence on Compass and let your class teacher know.

Please also be aware that, due to the expected low student attendance rate, there will be no Canteen service on Monday 4th November. Out of School Hours Care will operate as normal.

Placement of staff and students into classes for 2020

On Friday our Leadership team will begin developing our 2020 staffing structures. Following that exercise, in November, our staff will begin the task of allocating students to classes for 2020. As per the norm, our staffing allocations and final class structures will then be announced in late December.

As with our teaching teams, class groups are developed after careful consideration, balancing a range of issues and needs. Factors such as academic ability, behavioural challenges, friendships, and previous teachers are all taken into account to create balanced classes.

Students are given the opportunity to list friends they would like to be with for the following year and we ensure that at they are placed with at least one student on that list. It is important to note that an important part of any student’s journey through their schooling is the development of vital life skills. This includes meeting, getting to know and working with different personalities.

On occasions parent perspective can also add information to support this process. If you have any valuable information regarding the class placement for your child for 2020, that is above and beyond what the classroom teacher and leadership team already know of your child, you may wish to make an appointment with your child’s classroom teacher to discuss your thoughts. This meeting needs to take place before Friday November 8th. Please note: parent input on the placement of their child with a nominated class teacher is not an aspect where parents have a choice.

The entire process is completed by the current teachers and Leadership team. I encourage you to trust our school’s judgment and, like I do, value our teachers as high calibre people who care first and foremost for our children. The welfare of every child in our school is our prime consideration. Ultimately, it is our current class teachers, as professionals with all available information, who are in the best position to know which class students are placed into for the following year. I am sure that you would understand that it is not always possible to accommodate all requests, but we do endeavour to provide student groups that are in the best interests of individual students and the school as a whole.

Christian Holdsworth - Principal

For our students....

This Week's Birthdays

Taking to the streets for Art