WELCOME BACK

I hope that everyone enjoyed a relaxing Easter Break!  It has been a busy start to Term Two and lots of learning and events to look forward to as the term progresses.  

In trying to be helpful, some students or parents are once again using a rock from the front garden to hold back the front gate on South Pine Road leaving it wide open!  Please ensure that you keep our front gate closed at all times. Thanks for your help with this.

Our school has a very active Facebook page with frequent posts to keep our school community informed of what is happening in our school. Our events are posted throughout the term to allow parents time to be prepared for the term ahead. To find our events, simply click on the more tab and then the events tab in the dropdown menu to go to our events. 

Dates for Term Two events have been posted on Facebook to help you plan ahead for Term Two. 

If you have a Facebook page, we encourage all of our parents to follow our school page so you can enjoy the wonderful experiences our school has to offer.  The more you interact with the page by liking and commenting on posts, the more our page will appear in your newsfeed. A reminder that Facebook is not the best platform to ask questions that you need immediate or urgent replies to, as we don’t always see questions in the comment sections of a post. This is best done by emailing the teacher/admin or calling the office. Facebook is also not a site for posting complaints or negative comments about staff or school processes. 

If you have some constructive feedback for the school or an issue that you would like to raise, we would respectfully ask that you make an appointment to speak with the Principal to discuss your concerns.   Any inappropriate comments will be removed from the platform.  Please remember to never make comments on the page referencing a child’s name for privacy reasons.

Stop, Drop and Go

A friendly reminder to parents that to ensure the Stop, Drop and Go Zone at South Pine Road (in the car park) is successful, it is essential that drivers proceed all the way to the first gate closest to the library. Parents are unable to leave their vehicles in this area to walk their students into under the buildings as it causes congestion to the flow of traffic and becomes a safety issue. Please do not drop your students at the first gate either as this causes cars to have to go around your vehicle and again causes issues with the traffic flow. This gate is locked in the mornings for safety after 8:15am. Thanks for your support with our safe drop-off.

The expectation is the same for Laurel St Stop, Drop and Go.  Please do not park in this zone and leave your vehicle as it doesn’t allow for the traffic to flow.  It is important to continually move your car to the front of the zone to allow cars to move in behind you. Our staff are working hard to ensure the safety of our students as they leave the school grounds and we appreciate your support with this by following our pick-up and drop-off processes.

Pillar Practice

Our three school pillars include Safety (Be Safe); Relationships (Be Respectful); and Learning (Be a Responsible Learner).  Each fortnight at Assembly, a Pillar Practice is shared with staff and students that becomes our focus behaviour improvement.  This fortnight, our Pillar Practice is around showing respect to all staff.

All class teachers are provided with a poster for their classroom and will explicitly teach our school expectations around the relevant pillar and behaviour. Students are reminded daily about our focus behaviour with the goal of improving this behaviour across the school. Special RESPECT gotchas are being handed out to students over the coming fortnight to support the Pillar Practice.  You can support us by being aware of the current Pillar Practice and discussing the expectations with your children at home.

 

MSP School Photo Day

A reminder that the School Photo Day is coming up on Friday 16^th May.  Your child’s class teacher will communicate the time for their class photos.  Please ensure that your child is dressed in their best uniform to capture your treasured school memories!  Photos will be taken in the EPAC.  Sibling photos can be taken before school and at first break.

School Dress Code

As the days become cooler, students may need to start wearing a jumper.  Parents are asked to please follow our school Dress Code that requires students either wear the school jacket, or a plain blue jumper.  Blue jumpers with printed designs, colour jumpers and hoodies are not permitted.  Girls are permitted to wear navy tights.  As these are difficult to find, they are also permitted to wear black tights.  Blue tracksuit pants are also suitable for both boys and girls to wear with their polo shirt.  This Dress Code was developed collaboratively with the school community and supports the wearing of a school uniform to promote a sense of belonging and school pride.   It also promotes a supportive environment fostering mutual respect among individuals at school by minimising visible evidence of economic, class or social difference.  Thank you for your support of our School Dress Code.

The Student Council has many events planned for Term 2.  The students will be raising money for their legacy item through the Meal Deal in Week 9 and the Silly Socks and Sunnies Day.  They are also raising money for the Kid’s Cancer Council through the Dress Like a Pirate Day and money for the Indigenous Literacy.

Year 5/6 Camp

Our Year 5/6 Teachers, Mrs Burrows, Mr Woodrick and Mr Harris will be attending camp from Monday 26^th May to Wednesday 28^th May (Week 6) this term.    A reminder that camp forms were due back at the end of last term, and these are urgently needed so that the information can be provided to the camp regarding dietary and medical needs.  Full payment for the camp is due on Friday 9^th May (end Week 3).  If you are unable to make payment by this date, please contact the Business Manager as soon as possible to discuss options.

We will have begin having camp meetings soon with the students to discuss the countdown for camp. The bus in due to leave at approximately 9:30am on the Monday morning, however students must be at school at the normal time so that rolls can be marked, medication can be collected and the bus can be loaded. When helping your child to pack for camp, please ensure that you send along a plastic garbage bag for wet/dirty clothes, and remember to label all your child’s items with their names!

Teachers are currently working together on creating cabin groups and activity groups.  Whilst every effort is made to ensure that each child has one friend in their cabin, they may not have all their friends with them. This is the same for the activity groups, in which the students will be mixed from each class to encourage students to make new friendships and work with different peers. 

The year 5s and 6s will be in different groups as the Year 6s do different activities than when they visited last year although they do have the opportunity to do the flying fox again as well as visit the beach. This year, as we are attending earlier than previous years and the weather will be cooler, we are going to have a camp fire for the first time. Mr Harris is excited about bringing his guitar for some songs around the fire.

If you have any questions about camp, please email your child’s class teacher.  We are looking forward to sharing this wonderful experience with your children.

Ms Tina Burrows