Dear Parents and Caregivers,
Artists in residence
Student imagination and creativity has been at an all time high this week, with students and classes across the school
commencing a range of art projects with Artists in Residence James and Ruby. Project creation will continue into next
week, with the final pieces to be kept under wraps for a whole-school art exhibition that will form part of our 60th
birthday celebration early Term 4.
60th birthday celebration
Please save the date of Thursday 22 October for our school’s 60th birthday celebration . The birthday committee are
busily organising the program of events, which will likely run from 4.30pm to 8.00pm and include the art exhibition,
food and entertainment. While the final details regarding parent and community access will obviously be subject to any
current and/or future COVID-19 restrictions, we are hopeful we will be able to invite students, staff and families past
and present to come onto site to help us mark this significant milestone in our school’s history. Please share the date
with any of your networks that have a connection with our school past or present. We would also love to hear from
anyone with historical photos or artefacts that they would allow us to share or put on display as part of the celebration.
Safety, security and wellbeing
As communicated last week, we have now established an effective daily routine to secure our perimeter gates during
school hours. This is helping to keep all of our students safe. Students who arrive after our 8.50am start time must enter
the school through the front office and complete the sign-in process before going to class. With parents/caregivers
again able to enter school grounds for drop-off and pick-up, the gate behind our early years block (Diagonal Road staff
carpark) is now secured at all times. Please help us keep all students safe by dropping off and collecting your children
from the front of the school.
External school review
The site visit component of our external school review is now complete. Thank you to all students, parents/caregivers,
governing council members and staff who supported and participated in the process. The two-day review demanded a
significant amount of organisation, collaboration and flexibility from our staff and students, but the panel acknowledged
the welcoming atmosphere, strong positive culture and sense of community in our school. The panel was also impressed
with the strong sense of pride and confidence demonstrated by our students. While we now await the full report,
anecdotal feedback already received has highlighted the significant room for growth that lies within our school.
Increasing student agency, greater consistency in teaching and learning R-7, and more opportunities for students to be
challenged in their learning are likely to form the backbone of the evaluative conclusions… Exciting times ahead as we
continue our improvement journey!
Grounds and facilities
We have received confirmation that the first stage of our Western Oval play area upgrade will be completed by the end
of this term. A site works start up meeting is scheduled for mid-August, after which construction will commence. The
works will see the junior primary sandpit area given a substantial facelift, with the surrounding area to incorporate
interactive play and activity elements to engage and stimulate students.
In even bigger news, planning for our $7.5 million redevelopment project under the Department for Education’s Capital
Works project has now commenced. The program will aim to provide us with learning areas more suited for the delivery
of modern teaching and learning, to improve learning outcomes for our students. The original scope of works have been
reviewed with a Department representative and we are now anticipating engagement with architectural services.
With warm regards,
Josh Vick – Principal