Thank you again for your support and help during the recent lockdown. I would like to acknowledge our dedicated classroom and specialist teachers for their efforts over the past fortnight in ensuring the continuation of learning for our students over this time.

Dear Parents,

Thank you again for your support and help during the recent lockdown. I would like to acknowledge our dedicated classroom and specialist teachers for their efforts over the past fortnight in ensuring the continuation of learning for our students over this time.

SEMESTER 1 REPORTS
You will receive a report for your child outlining their progress in Semester 1. These reports will be accessible via Compass on Thursday 24 June (the second last day of term). We have modified our reporting format this year and have included a skills, strategies & understandings checklist for English and Mathematics. We hope this will give you a clearer picture of your child’s progress. More information about this new format will be sent out with the reports next week.

PARENT/TEACHER INTERVIEWS
To ensure a progressive reporting process for parents, interviews will be conducted in week 2 of Term 3.  We feel this provides regular information to parents each term.  Of course, parents wishing to discuss the mid-year report or any other aspect of the child’s school performance may contact their class teacher to make an appointment at any time.

Interviews for Prep to Year 2 students will be held between the parents and the classroom teacher. Students in Years 3 to 6 will participate in 3-way interviews together with the parents and classroom teacher. At this stage we are planning for them to be face-to-face meetings unless the decision has to be made to go to Webex meetings.

Bookings for these meetings can be made through Compass and will open on Monday 12 July (first day back of Term 3) at 9.30am.

CURRENT COVID RESTRICTIONS
Thank you to everyone for following the recent guidelines for returning back to school. At this stage the COVID-19 restrictions have resulted in some changes to programs and opportunities at school. Due to these restrictions, classroom helpers, interschool sports, incursions, excursions and some other activities are not possible.  Fortunately camps are allowed to proceed as long as those attending are from the same school. 

FRENCH DAY
Our much anticipated annual French Day, which was scheduled for next Monday, has been postponed until Monday 19 July (week 2 of next term).

SOIREE
The musical soiree scheduled for this week has also been postponed. A date for this event will be published early next term.

DIVISIONAL CROSS COUNTRY
Divisional Cross Country is another event that has had to be rescheduled. It will now take place on Thursday 24 June at Ruffey Park Lake. We wish Charlie T and James B (10 year-old boys), Isabella Fox (10 year-old girls), Luke de V (12 year-old boys) and Abbey H (12 year-old girls), all the very best as they represent our school at this event.

REMOTE LEARNING
During the week of June 6th to June 13th, across the school, we had 4,552 items posted on SeeSaw. It was fantastic to see all of our students taking part in remote learning with enthusiasm. Back at school, as I was visiting classrooms, I saw students from 5/6C presenting some of their work they had done at home during lockdown. Their task was to create a comic based on ‘A day in the life of…’ They drew on inspiration from their personal lives, the lives of their favourite actor or sporting person, as well as the superhero characters they had created in Art with Mrs Freeland-Small. Students hand-drew their illustrations and used Book Creator to assemble their comics. Below are contributions from Eddie, Will and Ryder.

3/4 CAMP
We have a lot of excited Year 3 & 4 students who will be attending a 3-day camp, Camp Manyung, on Monday next week. This camp was originally set for Wednesday 2nd June, rescheduled to Monday 7th June, cancelled and replaced with Camp Arrabri in August and then the opportunity came up suddenly for the current dates.  Thank you to the Year 3 & 4 teachers for their preparation and “agility” in making this opportunity available for our students. A huge thanks also to the parents who have made themselves available at very short notice. We look forward to hearing about all the adventures of camp life when they return to school.

5/6 CAMP
Preparations are now in full swing for the Year 5 & 6 camp at Camp Coonawarra in Gippsland. This is a 5-day camp in the third week of Term 3: Monday 26 July to Friday 31 July. Information for parents was sent out via Compass yesterday.

TEAPOT MORNING TEA
Students who display our school values: Achievement, Empathy, Respect, Resilience and Honesty are recognised by being awarded with a Tea Pot ticket. These go in to the big teapot in the foyer for our regular draws. At the last assembly the following students were drawn out of our tea pot, and will take part in a morning tea today with me, hosted by our SALT Wellbeing team.

NATIONAL SIMULTANEOUS STORYTIME (NSS)  


On Wednesday May 19, our students (pictured above) took part in the annual National Simultaneous Storytime (NSS).  Nearly 2 million readers at 33,418 locations shared Philip Bunting's Give Me Some Space.  This year it was extra exciting to hear the book read by astronaut Dr Shannon Walker from the International Space Station. The International Space Station astronauts have also read other titles from the Space Station, and these can be accessed here: Story Time From Space.

STUDENT REPRESENTATIVE COUNCIL
At their last meeting, the SRC wanted to be able to have some soccer goals on the oval to use at lunch times. They have organised a free dress day on Thursday 24 June. Please come dressed in a colour or rainbow colours, and bring a gold coin donation. Come dressed appropriately for the cold weather, and please no hair dye or face paint. 

STUDENT ILLNESS
Thank you to the parents who have notified their child’s teacher that they have been kept home as a precaution. Please do not send your child to school even with a mild cold, runny nose or cough. If your child presents with any flu or cold like symptoms, they will be sent to the first aid room and you will be called to collect them from school.

LOST PROPERTY
Just a reminder to check the lost property basket for items of school uniform. At the end of each term, we donate the unclaimed and un-named school uniforms in lost property to second hand uniform stall. At the moment the basket is overflowing!

YELLOW STEPS
The yellow concrete steps which border the coloured squares have been repainted over the last two weekends. They are looking vibrant, and along with the previous cleaning of the coloured squares, have rejuvenated the area. 



LAST DAY OF TERM 2 – Friday 25 June
A reminder that the last day of the term is on Friday 25 June and students will be dismissed at 2.30pm. Team Kids will be running a holiday program and more information about the daily activities can be found here.

Wishing all families a safe and restful holiday period.

Garry Collins
Principal