From the Primary Principal Team

Another exciting week has passed on the Primary Campus with much reflection, planning and learning taking place. Across the next 12 months you will see a number of projects taking place to refresh and improve our school including the construction of shade sails throughout the school to support students outside, painting of learning spaces and new carpet will all form part of our master planning.

I am sad to report again however that over a number of weekends, our Primary Campus has been subject to a number of incidents of vandalism. From broken windows, destruction of school property and smashing of bottles throughout the school, has meant considerable time, effort and money has been needed to ensure problem areas are fixed and safe for students. This takes away from the master plan of improving classroom spaces and construction of new spaces throughout the school. We love our school community using our facilities after hours as it builds a sense of community pride and ownership of our school, but we need your support to ensure people are using our facilities in a respectful way. We would really appreciate your support in this matter as we continue to work with the Department of Education and local Police in this matter.

As a school, we continue to engage external companies to come into our school and work with our students. It has been great to see our students engaging with Life Education over the past 2 weeks. Students have had an opportunity to work on a range of social and emotional issues and build connection and resilience. Life Education is a great resource for schools across Australia with the support provided to both students and families.

Next week, children on the Primary Campus will be involved in a range of activities to celebrate our different cultures within our school community. Students are asked to dress up in their cultural dress/colours on Friday 25th March and celebrate what makes them, them. We will ensure that lots of photos are taken and shared with our school community on the day. What a wonderful way to celebrate our many cultures within our school.

Throughout the week, students will also be involved in a range of activities to do with National Day Against Bullying and Violence. As the theme for this is “Kindness Culture” we are linking Harmony Day activities and National Day Against Bullying and Violence together. This is a great opportunity to educate students on the effects of bullying, building “team” whilst touching on the differences between teasing v bullying. Activities throughout the week will also shine a light on being a bystander compared to an upstander. I think this ties in beautifully with our Cultural Diversity week and the continued education that teachers do every day with our students around these issues.

Also on Friday 25th March is National Ride to School Day. We have a number of students who ride their bikes and scooters to school each day, and this might be an opportunity for a few more students to give it a go! Last year we had over 100 students ride or scoot to school – let’s see if we can break this record in 2022!

Some important dates to remember on the Primary Campus:

Our upcoming Parent Helpers course will take place early in Term 2. More information will be sent out to families closer to the date to register. We are hoping that in Term 2, we will be able to have parents in classrooms support students.
A reminder that our Mobile Dentist Van will be on site from Thursday 17th March until Friday 25th March 2022. Notes have gone out to students. This is a bulk billed dental examination and treatment for students under the child dental benefit scheme (if eligible).
End of term awards will be held on Friday 8th April starting at 12.15pm on the Primary Campus. More information will be sent out about this once we know more around Covid19 restrictions. Students will be dismissed at 1.15pm on the last day.
We will be holding our Mother’s Day Stall on Wednesday 4th March (Term 2, Week 2). Notes will be sent out to families next week with payments due by Friday April 29th.

Have a great weekend.

Marcus