Dear families and friends,

Student Free Day

Just a reminder that Monday is a student free day. No students are required to be at school. Tuesday is the official last day of school. If students attend this day they will be helping clean and pack up the classrooms etc. School will be dismissed at 2:30pm.

Swimming Carnival

Our Swimming Carnival was a fantastic success with the change of venue working out well. It allowed students to enjoy participating in their events and to also enjoy the treats from the canteen. We will continue to hold our Carnival in at HILAC due to unpredictable seasons and weather. Thank you to Mrs Brabham for organising a great Swimming Carnival.

Presentation Evening and Year 6 Graduation

I would like to thank everyone for attending last night's Presentation Evening. It was wonderful to see so many in attendance supporting our school and celebrating our achievements. Cavendish Primary School and community is a very special place and I am very lucky to be part of the school and its community. The opportunities and experiences that our students have here every day will stay with them for the rest of their lives.

A stand out for me this year was the school play earlier this term. This play was written by our students with the support from Mrs Huf. Our senior students took on many creative and leadership roles to write, direct, make props, make suggestions for lines and dances and assist the younger students to learn their lines and dances.

We completed our year with an enrolment of 34 students and our student numbers will be around the same for 2023. Miss Sally Purnell will be returning after her sabbatical year, Mrs Bell will continue her tutoring role, Mrs Huf will be back for music/performing arts and we also welcome Miss Amy Gray and Mrs Xanthie Girdwood to our teaching staff in 2023.

In my speech last night I thanked many people. I am so grateful that I am in a school where people are always willing to put in that little bit extra for our students every day. I would like to include part of my speech from last night as there are so many people I would to acknowledge and say thank you to.

I would like acknowledge our teaching staff: Mrs Brabham, Mrs Bell, Mrs Huf, Miss Thompson and Mrs McNaughton. They work extremely hard everyday to provide high quality learning opportunities for all the students and I thank them very much for everything that they do every day. Their focus is always on how they can support the students to be the very best they can possibly be. They build strong relationships with their students and promote student engagement and learning. A special thank you to Mrs Brabham and Miss Thompson for all their efforts and teaching this year. We wish them both all the very best in their new schools. Mr McLachlan, one of our MARC teachers will not be returning next year as he has taken on a full time classroom teaching position at Penshurst Primary School, we wish him well in this position. The position of our 2023 MARC teacher has not been filled yet.

I would like to say thank you to Tammy Crawford, our school Business Manager. She is willing to help everybody in our busy school, no job is ever too big or too small for her. We value her skills in administration and finance.

Thanks to the Cavendish Lions Club for their continued support of the school. Their very generous contributions have again helped towards buying books and classroom equipment.

A big thank you to our School Council and Parents’ Club. These amazing people give up their time and are so committed to help our school be successful. I thank them all very sincerely for their generosity and willingness to work on our governing committees.

Thanks to Claire Quinn for her work with our school prize winning garden. We have a beautiful garden at school, and it is thanks to Claire who spends hours making our garden a special place.

Thank you to our cleaners this year Michael, Saxon, Hayley and current cleaner Nicole. They work very hard to maintain our school and keep it looking clean and tidy.

Thank you to Pat Dixon for his work on our school grounds with the mowing and maintenance jobs. Pat has also been supported by his daughter Nikaila and grandson Cody, when he is away. Pat and his family have decided to finish up with the mowing contract so he can enjoy his travels more. Trent Adams will be taking over the mowing next year as well as continuing his gardening work.

Thank you to all our families and friends of the Cavendish Primary School for your continued contribution and support to our school. We are only a small school but what we might lack in numbers we make up for in community spirit and a willingness to always help each other out.

Congratulations to all our award winners and we wish our graduating Year 6 students - Lexi Thomas, Talia Price, Fletcher Price, Max Wright and Eva Northam all the very best in their educational journey. Last night we also said farewell and thank you to our families who have students that are finishing up their school time here at Cavendish.

We also announced our leadership roles for 2023 and we look forward to seeing our new leaders step up into their new roles.

2023

The teachers will be back at school on Friday 27th January and all students will commence on Monday 30th January. Just a reminder that our Foundation students have each Wednesday off for the month of February.

Have a wonderful holiday and enjoy family time. Please stay safe on the roads and we look forward to seeing you all in 2023.

Merry Christmas

Lisa Ferrier