Dear Parents,
This is the last newsletter for Term 1, and I know we probably say this every term but the weeks have certainly flown by! I would like to take this opportunity to wish all the Glen Iris families a great holiday break and an enjoyable Easter.
HARMONY WEEKWe celebrated Harmony Week last week across the school. The week celebrates Australia’s multiculturalism and is about inclusiveness, respect and belonging for all Australians. All classes were involved in making a Harmony Week banner and at lunchtimes students contributed to posters with the sentence starter: Everyone belongs at our school because…Here are some examples: “We know everyone has something unique to contribute to our school” “We listen to each other” “We make everyone feel welcome”
TEAPOT MORNING TEAStudents who display our school values: Gratitude, Empathy, Respect, Resilience and Honesty are recognised by being awarded with a Tea Pot ticket. They then have a chance to participate in a morning tea with me, hosted by members of the SALT – Wellbeing Team. Well done to the following students who were drawn out of the Tea Pot on Friday at assembly and had an enjoyable morning tea today:
UOOUOO ARTISTS VISIT GIPSOn Monday we held a special assembly as we were visited by two artists, Fiona Tweedle & Janie Fearon. They shared their experience of being selected to paint and decorate a fibreglass UooUoo, a Uoo Uoonicorn, (pictured below) to raise funds for the Royal Children’s Hospital 150th Appeal.We listened to how the artists went about their task, the problems they encountered and the joy of giving to others. Several students asked interesting questions about the whole process and kept the artists busy right through lunchtime! The Year 3 and 5/6 classes have finished their UooUoo’s…check out photos of their work on our website:https://sites.google.com/view/gips-art/home
…….. LIBRARY NEWSWe have had a wonderful start to 2021 in the Library. Students have enjoyed sharing and borrowing from our great collection of picture, fiction, and non-fiction books. Over 150 new books were purchased in Term 1 using some of the rewards from Scholastic Book Club orders. There are lots of exciting new titles from all genres for all reading levels and we thank you for your continued support. To celebrate Harmony Week last week, we shared stories that celebrate inclusion, diversity, and kindness.
NATIONAL SIMULTANEOUS STORYTIMEWe have registered to participate in the ALIA National Simultaneous Storytime (NSS) on Wednesday 19 May 2021. “Give me some Space!” by Philip Bunting will be this year's book. National Simultaneous Storytime (NSS) is an annual event that aims to engage children of all ages to enjoy books by creating a sense of excitement around reading. For the first time ever, not only will the official story for National Simultaneous Storytime be read by over 1 MILLION kids across Australia and New Zealand, but it will also be read by astronauts from the International Space Station!Happy Reading!Krista MorrisREGIONAL SWIMMING CARNIVALTwo of our students, Luke and Abbey, qualified for the Regional Swimming Carnival. Well done to Luke who finished seventh in breaststroke and Abbey who came first in freestyle and second in butterfly. Abbey now qualifies for the State Swimming Carnival at the Melbourne Sports Aquatic Centre in April, competing against the best swimmers in Victoria. A fantastic achievement and we wish Abbey all the best!RIDE2SCHOOL DAYLast Friday we celebrated National Ride2School Day. This was the perfect opportunity to kick-start new healthy habits and promote the many benefits of active travel. In total, we had 294 students either walk, ride or scoot to school and our bike and scooter area was full to overflowing. In the afternoon we were visited by Ashburton Cycles, one of our school sponsors, and students were given the opportunity to get their bikes checked.
READING @ HOME PARENT INFORMATION SESSIONParents of Year 1 & 2 students are invited to an information session tomorrow morning about how to help your child with reading at home. The session will be run by Robyn Challis and Brodee Procel.When: Thursday 25 MarchTime: 9.00 – 10.00amWhere: LibrarySPECIAL EASTER LUNCHThe PA have organised a special Easter lunch on Tuesday next week. There are 6 lunch options to choose from and orders via Trybooking need to be made by 5pm Friday: https://www.trybooking.com/BPRYNPOKEMON CARDSTeachers have had quite a few issues recently, particularly with our younger students, with Pokemon cards and the impact it has had on students being able to focus on their work in the classroom. We are going to trial students only bringing Pokemon cards to school on a Monday and a Friday, and request your cooperation with this strategy. LOST PROPERTY Please can you take the time to label all uniform. We regularly sort and return as much lost property as possible during the school year. It is always disappointing to see the huge amount of unclaimed uniforms that are in excellent condition in lost property. The lost property box is located in the main building under the stair well outside the 5/6C classroom.LAST DAY OF TERM 1 Just a reminder that the final day for this term is Thursday 1 April. We will have an assembly on this day at the earlier time of 1.50pm and school will be dismissed at 2.30pm. At this assembly next Thursday, a dance group will be performing and our senior choir will be singing.TERM 2We have a Curriculum Day on Monday 19 April. The teachers will be focussing on Maths and specifically looking at learning tasks and assessment. Team Kids are running a program on this day. The first day back for students will be Tuesday 20 April.Have a great break.Garry CollinsPrincipal
