Dear Parents,

I received an encouraging phone call this afternoon communicating that the school may have access to our new classrooms as early as this coming Monday 14th August. Whilst this will be exciting for our school community there is still much work to do. We will endeavour to move into the new buildings ASAP, with the moving of furniture and resources to be prioritised to ensure we are ready and set up for student use. Whilst we appreciate the many offers of help there are some OHS and liability implications we need to adhere to. The school will communicate and call on volunteers if required. 

We look forward in being able to show you through the new buildings ASAP. 

After School Care

It is with great regret that I inform you that our After-School Service has been closed indefinitely due to staff shortages. We understand this is extremely inconvenient for families who rely on and utilise this service frequently. We are working with our contractor, Extend, to hopefully have the service up and running again as soon as possible. 

Staffing Changes

This week we welcomed back Ms Rachel Braun from leave. We thank Mrs Meg Cribbes for her hard work in the Homegroup B classroom whilst Rachel was away. Meg will be heading off on leave to travel again for the remainder of the 2023 school year and we look forward to her return in 2024.

Some changes have also been made to allow the school leadership team more time together to work on important upcoming school priorities of School Review and Victorian Registration and Qualification Authority compliances. 

Commencing this week Mrs Mickey Davies will teach Homegroup K and Ms Ellie Wilson will teach Homegroup M each Tuesday.

Child Safety | School Parking

A reminder to all families that all vehicles must access the school via the Downton Street entry only. Please ensure we are patient and sticking to the 5km hour speed limit. When parking on the streets in front of the school we ask you to please be mindful of local residents’ property and not park on nature strips or in front of driveways.

For the safety of all children we highly recommend that students exit and enter cars from the footpath side of roadways and car line only. Exiting from the road side may put students at greater risk of an accident. It is a parent’s responsibility to ensure all precautions are met when picking up and dropping off students. 

We appreciate your support with this as we all play an important part in keeping our school community safe.

Child Safety | Kids ROAR

Later this term as part of Child Safety week we have engaged a company called Kids ROAR to come and work with our school community. ROAR Australia is committed to the prevention of abuse on children through education on Personal Safety. Their programs are based on Protective Behaviours themes: ‘We all have the right to feel safe at all times’ and ‘We can talk to someone we trust about anything, no matter what it is’.

Each year however, thousands of children across Australia experience abuse. It is estimated that 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 7 boys will be subject to some form of unwanted sexual activity before the age of 18 (Australian Institute of Criminology).

Kids ROAR educators will be running a free online session for all school parents on Monday 4th September 2023, 7:30pm. See below flyer for further information.