Hi everyone,

Congratulations to all our students who have participated in the Eisteddfod this week. We have been very proud of the kids commitment to the process of learning their parts, creating their artworks, media or writing pieces and have been very pleased with the growing confidence of our students. It is far from easy to perform in such a formal setting for judgment but it is such a valuable experience. Thanks to all our staff who prepared the students and thank you to all the parents and families who could come along to support them.

Ecofest

Our Ecofest on Monday was a wonderful success with many different stallholders from the wider community and so many visitors to our school. Our kids loved showcasing some of the work they have done in their eProjects. The students were quite engaged throughout the whole event and spent time asking interesting questions of our stallholders. A big congratulations to our Year 5 /6 Turtles who did most of the work organising the event along with the support of Mrs Christie, Mrs Moore and Mrs Trigg. It will be lovely to see the Ecofest continue as a key event in our school calendar each year. 

Building Progress

Finally our demountable building has arrived and been attached to its footings. We are hoping it is ready for Vacation Care in the Christmas holidays with plans to paint inside and out (needs to fit in with our school colours), add an office and a kitchen as well as fit it out with new furniture and storage. We will also be adding some landscaping and paneling around and below the external areas to improve the functionality and aesthetics. This building will be a welcome resource for our OSHC providers.

Over the holidays our senior playground will be installed ready for Term 4 with the Year 5 / 6 class claiming first dibs on testing it out which makes sense given they designed it and negotiated the whole process.

Also over the holidays we will have an artist in to create the patterns on our sensory trail going from the concrete path at the Prep block out to the centre pathway and around towards the Hall back to Prep. This artwork is the first stage of a project we have been working on with Access Therapy to provide accessible sensory spaces to address the auditory, visual, tactile (touch), olfactory (smell), gustatory (taste), vestibular (role between body gravity and the physical world), interoception (the ability to feel what is happening inside the body) and proprioception (the way our body receives input from the muscles and joints about our body position, weight, pressure, stretch, movement and changes in space) needs of our students. We are quite excited with this opportunity to further support our students. 

Our building project will be due to hand over the extended staffroom at the beginning of next term with carparking and classrooms not far behind. We are waiting for the landscaping to be completed in the carparking areas before the lines are painted to try eliminating paint damage from landscaping machinery. We have classroom furniture arriving in early November ready to set up for our Transition Day on Dec 3 and for 2020 classes.

Next term is a short term with only nine weeks but has many things to look forward to including transitioning our Year 6 students to high school, our new students for Prep, our Swimming Carnival, Book Fair, Burgers by the Billabong Family afternoon, Missions Market Day and O” Holy Night. 

Please enjoy a safe and happy break from school. We’ll see you all back on Tuesday 8 October.

Cheers 

Penny