Out and about with Mr Walsh

THANK YOU SURFSIDE 

Congratulations we raised $41,131

What an amazing outcome for the school and we are so thankful for the support of our sponsors, supporters and school community. Despite the challenges of the weather this is a fantastic result. We are already looking forward to working with Fleur and Clancey to discuss ways we can now enhance our kitchen and garden program from 2023 and beyond. A special thank you goes to Stacey and our wonderful working party who worked so hard behind the scenes to provide our school community with this experience. We are already looking forward to planning for our 2023 event.

What a week at Surfside! 

We started the week with flooding on the east side of the school due to the heavy rain on Sunday and Monday which saw all of the students inside for the day. A big thank you to Damien and Terry who assisted in a massive clean up to get the school back to full operations by mid week.

We ended the week bathed in sunshine and I was lucky enough to sit with a few students in the courtyard on Friday afternoon for Carols in the Courtyard. We have definitely had a bit of everything this year (well pretty much the last 3 years) but it is always great to see our kids smile and having some fun no matter what the weeks throw our way.

Book Fair

A big thank you to all of our families who attended the Surfside Book Fair this week. It has been a busy week each afternoon and a MASSIVE thank you to all of our parent helpers and staff who assisted with organisation and sales. 

A REMINDER THAT WE HAVE OUR TERM 4 CURRICULUM DAY NEXT WEEK 

FRIDAY 25th NOVEMBER 

STUDENT FREE DAY

Vale Sharon Peake - 26.04.1960-13.11.2022

We were very saddened to hear of the passing of former Surfside teacher Sharon Peake. Sharon was at Surfside from 2008 to 2015 before retiring. For those who had the pleasure of meeting, being taught or working alongside Sharon during her years at Surfside, they will remember a kind hearted, caring and trustworthy colleague and an exceptional, innovative and passionate teacher, and a person that Surfside held in the highest regard. Sharon was simply an outstanding person, full of genuine concern and good will for others. 

Unfortunately Sharon has battled illness over the last few years and she will be remembered for writing a picture story book about our local area 'The Happy Bridge' which has also been illustrated by our own art teacher Mrs Di Mercer. These books can be purchased at the school for $20 and all proceeds go to the 'Brain Cancer Foundation'. Our thoughts are with those who were lucky enough to know Sharon.

2022 Rotary Awards - Year 6

Rotary is a really fun and enjoyable experience as it has a mix of community tasks. It really puts you to the test and it’s beneficial and we would recommend it to all future year 6 students. The program includes four activities:

• Physical Recreation - This activity includes completing 10 hours of physical activities like footy training, basketball training, nippers, surfing, etc.
• Skill Development - This activity includes completing 10 hours of learning a new skill, like knitting, skiing, swimming, surfing, learning a musical instrument, etc.
• Community Service - Community service includes committing 10 hours of community service, like visiting a nursing home, helping a neighbour or just helping out with the community, etc.
• Social Experiences - this experience includes six other activities:

1. Community celebrations: this activity includes celebrations like Anzac Day then you must write a report about it.
2. Community meeting: this activity includes attending a meeting in your local community. 
3. Cultural exchange: this activity includes learning a few things about different cultures like interviewing someone born in a different country or going to Narana in Geelong.
4. Religious or spiritual experience: this activity includes finding out about a religious or spiritual group in your local community.
5. The arts: this activity consist of investigatingan art event in your local area, like attending an art hub opening.
6. The environment: this activity includes identifying an environmental issue in your local area. 

Congratulations to everyone who completed the project and we hope that everyone is very proud of their achievements. 

By Hollie Smith and Olivia Gusie

Project 2022 - Bellarine Secondary College and Surfside Primary School Partnership

We have been doing some exciting things with Bellarine Secondary College over the past 2 terms as part of our maths focussed 'Project 22'. This has included visits for our STEAM Day at Bellarine SC and Bellarine SC students participating in activities in our garden. This week we kicked off an extension maths challenge that has 8 year 5 students partnered up with 8 Bellarine SC students to tackle some challenging maths problems over the next 3 weeks. It has been a real highlight to make these connections with the students from Bellarine. 

Jess Chapman who is the Western Region Professional Learning Communities Practice Instructor had the following feedback when interviewing the students and observing the project:

'It was my pleasure to interview the wonderful students participating in the Surfside PS and Bellarine SC Maths Project this term. Their responses captured a sense of excitement around working together and the opportunity to work in new environments along with the thrill of new challenges.

There was certainly a buzz in the room yesterday and today as the students got to know one another and began to work through their project.

Thank you to Mr Chapman (Surfside PS) and Mr Wallis (Bellarine SC) for the incredible work they have put into this so far and for creating such safe learning environments for these students to feel comfortable in.'

2022 Victorian Schools Garden Program Awards

We were excited to hear that we will be the recipients of an award at the 2022 Victorian Schools Garden Program Awards. A big thank you to Clancey McKenzie our garden specialist for the submission and we look forward to our Kitchen and Garden captains heading into Melbourne next week to receive the award on behalf of Surfside.

Food Scrap Friday - Well Done Team Surfside

What do all of these things have in common with Food Scrap Friday?

1. Ocean Sunfish
2. Baby Humpback Whale
3. Walrus
4. Black Rhinoceros
5. Water Buffalo
6. 1979 Volkswagen Beetle

They all weigh more than a tonne and as a school we have collected more than a tonne of food scraps so far this year. That is an awesome effort and goes a long way to supporting our garden as well as our environment. Keep your food scraps coming each and every Friday morning at the front of the school. A big thank you to our parent and student helpers.

Keeping our community COVIDSafe

The Victorian Government, Department of Health Services and The Department of Education continue to have specific guidance in place to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in our local community. We can all do our part in the following ways:

• Continue good health and hygiene practice by washing hands regularly, coughing or sneezing into your elbow and using hand sanitiser regularly.
• When unwell it is recommended that you remain home, seek medical advice and undertake a Rapid Antigen Test (these are available at the front office).
• It is highly recommended that if your child tests positive to COVID-19 that your child isolates for 5 days and returns when symptom free.

For further support please visit the DHS Coronavirus webpage