Yesterday – 'at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month' - we paused for a moment's quiet contemplation to reflect on the legacy of our forbears who sacrificed their lives in the service of their country and those they loved.

World War I was to be 'the war to end all wars'. The admonition 'Lest we forget' was based on the hope that if we could only keep close in our collective memory the experience of horror then we would never go there again.

Our school captains delivered a speech to the classes from the new flag poles, and led the school in a minute silence. Charlie lowered the flag as a sign of respect to the fallen.

Lest we forget!

Production Update

It is with great regret and sadness that we inform you of the cancellation of our school production ‘The Generation Gap’.

We have strenuously tried to persist and explore every possible avenue to allow the students to see this through to completion, including rescheduling twice and exploring the option of a professional film crew.

As you are aware, the recent cases of COVID within the school, and the enforcement of student bubbles without mixing groups has resulted in the cast not being able to come together to rehearse and perform the show. Several main cast members and whole grades are currently in isolation which has made it impossible to make the necessary preparations, to stage the production within its planned schedule.

With the added complexity of COVID cases now requiring a 7–14-day quarantine period, we are unable to predict if, or when, it may occur next. The uncertainty and unpredictability of occurrences has led to the unfortunate decision to cancel.

We would sincerely like to thank each one of you for supporting our students and hope that you will understand just how difficult this decision has been. The resilience shown by all the cast and crew throughout continued interruptions and postponements of this production has been commendable.

We are deeply disappointed to be in this situation. ‘The Generation Gap’ was to be a highlight of 2021 and we are devastated to not be able to see it come to fruition.

As always, we look forward to your support, understanding and appreciation of our working partnership as we continue to offer your child the best possible education in their journey through primary school.

2022 Class Structures

Our planning for 2022 is well underway and we are currently organising classes for next year.

The successful implementation of straight classes this year from Foundation to Year 2 has been beneficial to the students especially returning from Remote Learning.

We have decided as a school to continue the straight class levels through the school for 2022, as there is an optimal number of enrolments at each level.

It doesn't mean that we may not have a composite class in some levels in future years, as the class structure depends on a number of factors.

Composite classes happen for a number of reasons. We may have them due to uneven enrolments by age group – for example, there’s a larger than average intake of Year 3 and a smaller group of Year 4 enrolments. In order to keep class size to the optimal number, we may decide to run one Year 3 class and a Year 3 and 4 composite class to allow for two evenly sized classes. Similarly, we may have low enrolment numbers overall and may combine grades to make up classroom numbers

What if my child is in a composite class in the future?

Every class is a composite class filled with students with different learning needs, rates of learning, interests and strengths at different points in terms of their progress and achievement depending on what they are learning.

The most common fear for parents having a child in a composite class is that they will fall behind – that the teacher's attention will be split between the two years and they’ll get less overall learning time with their teacher. The research, however, doesn’t agree. Multiple studies conclude it makes no difference to performance whether students are in a straight year group or in a multi-age class. Experts agree the most important factor in determining how well a student does is the quality of the teacher and their teaching.

Playground Update

The news that we have all been waiting for is finally here. We have received confirmation that there could be some action on the new playground as early as December.

COVID has caused numerous delays and costing nightmares, but we are confident that the construction of the Ninja course and the sensory playground area will become a reality.

Watch this space for some progress photographs!

The wall for the Friendology corner is also underway and a huge thank you to one of our parents Josh Wood, who was kind enough to volunteer his services to paint the base of the wall. The corner as mentioned previously has been under development due to the generous donation from one of our GRPS families. We have plans to build a seating area for the children to come together in a quiet space.

The school has also been successful in receiving a shade sail grant of $25,000 to create some covered outdoor learning spaces. Jo-Anne in the office is frantically trying to collate the paper work so that we can see the construction happen as soon as possible. At this stage, the announcement that all schools would receive air purifiers has not been delivered. Please note, the recent media release of the Rapid Testing Information, is a only a pilot program operating in a small number of schools from November 15th. If you would like to seek more information about the announcements please contact the Regional Office.

Thankyou to our wonderful community for your incredible support over the last few weeks that have been particularly challenging.

Everyday I am grateful for the kindness that is shown is so many different ways

Yours Sincerely,

Karen

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