From the Primary Principal Team

WELCOME BACK 

Welcome back to the new school year to all our families and a very warm welcome to the new families joining our Lakes Community in 2022.

I hope you all had a terrific summer break and enjoyed lots of quality family time. I am pleased to say that (touch wood!) we have had a very smooth start to the school year given the circumstances. Thank you to all our staff members and school families for embracing the “we will need to be adaptable” attitude and also doing everything that is within our control to keep our school open, students at school and our community safe. 

It was great to see families collecting RA Test last week in readiness for the school year with lots of questions around the best day for students to be tested. This highlights what a great community we are and that we are working so cohesively to do what is needed, even if the tests are not fun to do! I know we have mentioned completing the tests on Monday and Wednesday or Tuesday and Thursday but in conversation with those who have a much deeper understanding and who are working on the front line in our hospital system, we would like to promote the idea and importance of doing a RA test on Monday mornings. The logic behind this is that it would limit the exposure days and times, as students would have been away from school for 48 hours (Sat/Sun) prior to testing Monday. If they return a positive on Monday and do not come to school this reduces the potential infectious period over the weekend. Our 2nd batch of RA tests will be delivered to school over the next week or so hopefully. More details on how we distribute them will be communicated with our families next week.

Our Preps had a wonderful start on Monday and have settled into school life with ease. It was great seeing parents, grandparents and other family members supporting the prep students on their first day. Well done to our Prep team, who did a power of work to ensure the smooth transition for students and families.

While we are welcoming new members to our Lakes community, we have a number of new teachers who have joined us in 2022. A massive welcome to Alisha (Prep), Olivia (Year 5) and Jazlyn (Year 6). Our school is so lucky to have these new staff join us with their skills on show from day 1.

2022 STUDENT LEADERS

It was my honour this week to announce our Student Leaders for 2022 to our school community. With over 50 students nominating at the end of 2021 for leadership positions and staff working through the process of narrowing it down, we have finally reached who our student leaders will be in 2022. A massive thank you to all students who nominated and presented to staff. We are proud of the high calibre of applicants which made the panels job extremely hard. Our staff look forward to working with these students across the year.

Congratulations to the following students:

2022 School Captains – 

Prathana N, Tania J, Harshu K, Xavier K

2022 House Captains –

Jackson - Ella B, Donny W 

Evans – Rydah L, Tanya S, 

Rafter – Bonnie N, Diya M 

Beachley – Xavier D, Kris T

2022 Peer Mediators -

Jiya P, Cianan R, Haylee B, Riania K, Millie D, Kiara T, Milly R, Neha P, Matai A, Ashwin B

SCHOOL UNIFORM

Please be reminded that students need to be wearing their school hat during all recess and lunch breaks in Terms 1 and 4. It has been great seeing students in correct school uniform to start 2022. Please be reminded that students need to have all black shoes as part of our uniform policy. Any issues, please speak to your child’s teacher or come in and speak with me at school.

BE ON TIME FOR SCHOOL EVERY DAY 

Each day we start with the first bell ringing at 8.55am. This is the signal for students to line up in front of their classrooms and get ready for learning before the 9am bell rings. We know that getting off to a great start each day is critical for learning, so we are encouraging everyone to be on time and ready to go inside classrooms by the 9am bell. At the other end of the day, a bell will ring at 3.15pm where students will be dismissed. It is wonderful to welcome our parents back onto school grounds. A reminder that if your son/daughter arrives to school late, a parent/carer is required to come in and sign them in via the front office, this is also the process for picking up for early departure. 

ROAD SAFETY AROUND SCHOOLS 

Speed zones, pedestrian crossings and parking restrictions around school are there to improve the movement of traffic during peak times and maximise safety for children and road users. It is vital as adults, we lead by example and set good road safety practices travelling to and from school. As such we are asking all parents and carers to observe and obey parking signs and in particular No Stopping and No parking signs. We are lucky at The Lakes with the amount of parking available during peak times. The “kiss and drop” area in the morning will continue to happen. Please be mindful that this is not a parking space and cars need to be in and out of this space to ensure flow of traffic.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Marcus