Dear Parents and Carers 

In Week 11, we will mark the beginning of Holy Week with Kindergarten reinacting  Palm Sunday, this retells the story of Jesus' entry  into Jerusalem. The crowd honouring Jesus by laying their robes and palms on the road in front of him calling our “Hosanna!” How quickly things can change, less than a week after this joyous event the same crowd is standing by as Jesus is betrayed by his closest friends, arrested and crucified. Jesus’ message despite his suffering was compassion and empathy. What a challenge for us, to live in the shadow of the person of Jesus, calling us to consider the needs and feelings of others before our own, and that is the secret to building strong communities where every person is valued and loved. 

This week were thrilled to have the initial webinar for the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program that will be starting in our school next term. We are very fortunate to have a wonderful team on board who cannot wait to get growing and cooking with our students. Our team consists of Anneliese Robinson, Anna Simm and Jodi Donnelly, these community members bring so much passion and enthusiasm for children learning to grow and cook their own healthy meals. Please watch out for compass alerts as we would love volunteers for the kitchen and the greenhouse next term. 

Since our last newsletter we have held the P and F, AGM, I would like to sincerely thank the leadership team of the P and F for their commitment and dedication to our school. Our new leadership roles are following:

President; Anna Sim 

Secretary/ Treasurer: Liz Woods 

Vice President : Rosie Spencer

Canteen Managers: Sam Whittle and Lisa Lirantzis 

We are so lucky to have such hardworking people who are willing to work to build our school community. Please lend a helping hand wherever you can. We thank Emma Wilson for her role of Treasurer for the past year. We look forward to joining everyone for barefoot bowls on Sunday. 

Over the past few weeks, our Year 3 and Year 5 classes have undertaken NAPLAN Assessments Tests, all students really tried their best in all the papers. From this year, parents and carers will get earlier, simpler and clearer information about their child’s NAPLAN achievement based on new, more rigorous national standards.Education ministers have agreed to change the way NAPLAN results are reported to parents and carers, now that all students are taking the tests online. The numerical NAPLAN bands and the national minimum standard will be replaced by the following 4 levels of achievement:

• Exceeding
• Strong
• Developing
• Needs additional support

The descriptors for each category will make it clear to parents what their child’s literacy and numeracy skills are at the time of NAPLAN testing, and support discussions with their school on their child’s progress.

Have a great week,

Yours in partnership 

Laurinda Nelson