From the Principal 

We are rounding out term 1 with a bumper newsletter edition, featuring some of the many enriching excursions and events we have been able to run in the last few weeks.  It is almost starting to feel like a normal year, although we are well aware of the student and staff absences that have affected so many throughout the term. Heading into the final week, I hope that many families have holiday activities to look forward to, that will continue to cement that sense of normality.

The Athletics Carnival last Friday was a great success and a terrific opportunity for our students to be part of the school’s house structure. Thank you to Josh Bartholomew and Pauline Dridan for all of the organisation required especially for the directions to get to the event. I rode up along the trail following the directions and found it a great way to get to the event. Thanks to Cathy Lester for MCing, the Peer support leaders for their assistance, and the PE/Health team during the day. 

Thank you to the students, school councillors and parents that attended the 2021 Annual Report to the School Community, which was held in the Performing Arts Centre theatre and then tabled at the following school council meeting. It was great to hear from the 2022 School Captains; Amelie, Noah and Karla and to hear about the 2021 successes. One particular part of the report to be celebrated is the school’s Thrive fund and the committee is meeting this week to further look at ways our community can support those in need. The report will be published on our website following endorsement by the DET. 

I am delighted to announce the following representatives for School Council in 2022.  

Parent Representatives:  

Liza Grage-Perry (School Council President) ; Stefan Gruenert (School Council Vice President); Sean Cooney; Dave Oakley; Chris Price; Ian Rogers 

Staff Representatives:  

Katie Archibald; Sarah Burns; Chris Jones; Richard Smallcombe; Elliot Wall 

Student Representatives:  

Cara McKie; Adam Hamo 

Community Representatives:  

Gaby Chapman; Wayne Moncur (School Council Treasurer); James Thyer 

We had over 5,500 phone conversations take place over our 2 days of Parent Student Teacher Conversations. I am sure that these conversations assisted families in discussing learning goals for next Term and perhaps some areas catch-up on or revise before starting holidays. I thank our staff for the time that they spend in preparing for these conversations, to make them such a valuable part of our feedback cycle, and strengthen our family partnerships in student learning. 

Thank you to families that responded to the DET request to complete the survey on Rapid Antigen Testing. We have received our next batch of over 2,000 test kits and will distribute these before term break so that students are able to begin testing before they return to school on Tuesday 26 April. We will continue our testing schedule of Mondays and Thursdays as these have proven very successful in assisting students and families to identify covid cases as early as possible and stay off-site while infectious. 

It has been a long Term 1, and we encourage our students to have a break from their studies for at least part of the holidays and to enjoy the mild temperatures outdoors before the colder weather sets in. For those in our community that celebrate Easter as a religious event, I wish your communities a safe celebration. My family enjoy watching the Greek Easter celebration that takes place in our street and I hope that it is able to return again this year for our local Greek community. 

I wish everyone a safe, restful and happy break.  

Chris Jones 

Principal