Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome back to all our students and families! It is so lovely to see everyone return keen and eager for the term ahead! We have had a busy start to the term. Tomorrow, our Kinder students are celebrating 100 days of Kinder! Wow! Where has that time gone and so much learning has occurred during those days at school? They are looking forward to dressing up tomorrow in clothes from 100 years ago and participating in activities based around the theme. The students from Year 3 to 6 are busy working on their speeches for the Northern Regions Public Speaking Competition which will be held at the end of Week 5 at St Mary’s Crookwell. We look forward to hearing their speeches in the next few weeks.

All students last week commenced their preparation for the BYPAA Wonderwood Project, which is a community concert to be held early in November. The students are participating in creative arts activities every Monday afternoon in groups of their chosing, either dance, drama, singing or art. More information will be provided to parents soon.

Commencing tomorrow, all students from Kinder to Year Six will be participating in the Peer Support Program. The students will be in mixed groups and the program will be conducted by the Year 5 and 6 students who were trained at the end of last term by Katie Tooth. The Peer Support Program is an inclusive student wellbeing program, which explores four key concepts: resilience, sense of self, connectedness, and sense of possibility. Peer Support equips students with the skills and tools to build strong relationships and positively navigate life. Students learn the social and emotional literacy skills to better manage life’s ups and downs. We thank Mrs Tooth for her organisation of this program and for training our Year 5 and 6 students.

Each Wednesday this term, some Year 3 and 4 students will be participating in the Seasons for Growth Program with our School Counsellor, Faith Costigan. This program assists students to learn the skills to help them understand and manage change and loss in their lives. The program will conclude at the end of the term. Next term, the program will be offered to students in Years 5 and 6. We thank Faith for facilitating this for our Primary students. Seasons for Growth and Peer Support are both evidenced-based educational programs.

Last week, the staff participated in two professional development days where they focused on HITS (High, Impact Teaching Strategies), Data Analysis, First Aid training, planning for this term and TWR (The Writing Revolution). TWR provides teachers with evidence-based strategies to ensure that students at all levels can provide clear, coherent, unified and structured writing. Armed with those strategies, students become better readers, communicators and most importantly, critical thinkers. The days were extremely productive and have provided teachers with additional skills and strategies to add to their teaching resources.

Our Community Council have been very proactive applying for grants this year. Last term, they successfully obtained a grant from CRT for a Sensory Garden. This area selected for this garden will be behind the new Infants classrooms. This morning, Erin Brinkley met with Clare Young, Emily Ryan, Sarah Hickey and myself, providing us with information and ideas for the garden and outdoor learning space. Plans are also well in place for the designs for our new Infants Play Equipment. All money obtained through fundraising initiatives this year will go towards the cost of our new equipment, which in addition, will possibly be supported by community grants. We are extremely grateful for our Community Council and their contribution to the school and support they provide for me in my role as Principal.