Newsletter 7 May

From the Principal

With Week 2 quickly coming to a close I would like to share a few things with the school community.

At the end of last term, I wrote a fairly open & honest email addressing the aim we have as a school to be approachable. To listen to our parents and support them in ensuring our school is a safe and enjoyable space for their children to learn, grow and prosper. I would like to thank the parents who contacted me after that newsletter item. I received emails and visits that assured me that they would be taking advantage of the opportunity. I encourage every parent to do so. Together we can make our school a community to be proud of.

Winter Sports starts next week for children in Grades 4-6 on Thursday & Friday! While the ominous winter weather can cause havoc with the roster it is important that children who nominate to be involved in Winter Sports maintain that commitment for the whole of the season and come along each week with their gear ready to play regardless of the weather. We will only cancel a game if we really, really have to. Our oval is occasionally one of the reasons for the cancellation of a weekly game. I have approached a couple of alternate local venues in the hope that this doesn’t happen this year. Should the location of the game be changed; parents will be notified.

Swimming and Water Safety Program notices have already gone home as the program will run again this year, in weeks 9 & 10 of term. This is a big financial commitment to the school as it includes the sourcing of Swim teachers and buses to and from the pool. In a number of instances last year, quite a few children, particularly girls, chose not to attend – many because they didn’t want to. We will always support legitimate reasons for not attending. I will be having a discussion with all students participating in Learn to Swim this year to ensure those who can attend make the commitment to do so for the full two weeks (or as much as possible) or not at all. This will ensure that finances are utilised in the best way. That we don’t have swim teachers that aren’t required and buses that are over booked.

Playberry continues to be a powerful strategy in improving student literacy skills. Term 1 data indicates that we should again see good gain scores across the year. I can’t reiterate enough how important it is that students arrive at school on time of a morning to make the most of this powerful learning opportunity. In over 30 years of teaching, I have never seen anything work this well. Please support your children by ensuring they arrive at school on time every day.

Nadine Davey

Principal

Aussie of the Month

Aussie of the Month is a student awards program, available to all primary schools across Australia. It currently has more than 1,550 primary schools participating, reaching more than 520,000 students. The program has been operating for more than 20 years, encouraging civic contribution through rewarding behaviours that reflect our responsibilities as community citizens, similar to the Australian of the Year Awards.

Aussie of the Month recognises and celebrates personal endeavour, achievement and contribution to the community, and promotes the universal values we share as Australians, such as fair go, mateship, respect and inclusion. At Springfield Gardens Primary School, we recognise two students- one from early childhood classes (K-2) and one from primary classes (3-6) as our Aussie of the Month.

Nominations for Aussie of the Month are made by staff, and successful students receive a certificate and badge in recognition of their achievement.

Congratulations to our April Aussie of the Month recipients – Kaia and Gracia.

Every School Day Matters

Reminder: Every school day matters

As Term 2 kicks off, we wanted to share a timely reminder about the importance of school attendance.

We love seeing your child at school every day – it’s the best place for them to learn and grow. It’s a chance to be around their friends, learn new things (including life skills), spark their curiosity and have fun.

Term 2 is packed with exciting things your child won’t want to miss:

• School Lunch Program - Wednesdays Grades 3-6, Thursdays Grades K-2
  
• School Cross Country - Tuesday 13 May
• Jack Jumpers Visit - Thursday 15 May
• Winter sports - Select Students Grades 4-6
• Water Safety Program- Commences 23 June Grades 3-5 (select grade 6's)

For tips on creating positive attendance habits, visit the Anything can happen website.

Please talk to us if you’re having trouble getting your child to school. We’re here to help and support is available.

Kinder O'Neill

We have had a busy start to Term 2 in Kinder O’Neill. Our main foci for this term are letter sounds, name writing, counting and patterns. We started to practice copying and continuing patterns this week with different coloured counters. We hope you enjoy the photos of us copying Mrs O’Neill’s special pattern.

Prep Jardine

Last week, Prep students explored the magic of Autumn by observing the changes in the trees around our school. Some trees have even dropped all their leaves!

In addition to drawing the trees and writing about their observations, the students collected leaves to bring inside. Using these leaves, they created imaginative insect artworks. This activity ties into our science focus on animal features.

The students applied their knowledge of insects, thinking about the number of legs and wings different insects have, to transform their leaves into unique insect creations. They also drew habitats around their insects, adding an extra layer of creativity to their work.

3/4 Balhatchet

3/4 B have been super keen scientists observing the properties of substances and classifying them as solids or liquids. Many students investigated everyday substances at home and described how they caused a change of state. Have you seen these changes before?

We will continue to explore changes of state caused by adding or removing heating energy in the coming weeks. 

Here are our observations of using body heat to cause changes in state.

Book Club

Book club orders are due back by Friday 16 May.

School Student Broadband Initiative

National Referral Centre

The School Student Broadband Initiative is an Australian Government program to support students that do not have access to home internet (broadband).

To boost education opportunities and help narrow the digital divide, the School Student Broadband Initiative is providing approximately 30,000 eligible families and carers across Australia with school age children with free nbn-powered broadband internet at home until 30 June 2028.

The program is not currently accepting new nominations, but unredeemed vouchers will now remain valid until 11:59pm on 30 June 2025.

Vouchers can only be used once and can only be used in relation to the address listed. They cannot be transferred to another family.

Student Internet Program - Anglicare Victoria