Dear Parents and Carers 

It has been a really exciting week with the opening of the new playground, it was so wonderful to watch the students enter the grounds on Thursday morning with a sense of awe and wonder. The playground is an enormous testament to the hard work and generosity of many people, first and foremost the work of Mrs Julie Valentini, in her relentless pursuit of the Australian Government Black Summer Bushfire Recovery Program, thereby securing substantial financial support to allow us to enact our master plan. Our own P and F team, who have worked so hard over so many years to raise funds to make a $25 000 donation towards the playground, many generous donations to the school from other schools and community members in the aftermath of the bushfires which have also contributed considerably to the project. Locally, Treading Lightly have contributed $5000 towards the cost of the trees and plants that are now the centre piece of the project  theme of ‘Re-Grow Re-New Re-Discover & Re-Unite’. Uncle Phil Butler has been integral in ensuring that local traditional story and indigenous culture are represented in the healing nature of the natural materials that have been used. 

This master plan was enacted by Utopian Landscapes, under the leadership of Derek Davis, who has shown such extraordinary insight, vision and workmanship in bringing the plan to life. 

Our aim through this project was to bring healing and joy to our community, which is evident in the excitement and new creative play we are witnessing with our students. With the inclusion of the sustainable garden and greenhouse we will be looking for our garden minded community members to volunteer to roll their sleeves up so our Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Program can get underway next year. 

Next week we are holding our first official orientation session Tuesday 22nd Nov at 9:30am  for our Kindergarten 2023, the playgroups have been a wonderful opportunity for our new students to get to know each other and our big school environment. We will also be holding a Kindergarten Parent Information Session on Tuesday night at 6pm, this will be an important time to learn all about our school and the wonderful world of Kindergarten. 

As the term moves on we are noticing that many of our students are unwell and tired, please ensure that you keep your child home if they are sick. We have had COVID cases in the school again and it is in the best interest of all be to vigilant in this regard. 

Thank you for your ongoing support, I hope to see you in the playground soon,

Yours in partnership

Laurinda Nelson