Dear Parents and carers, 

I hope that you were able to have a break over the past two weeks and enjoy time with family and friends.  I was so happy to see our students' smiling faces on Tuesday morning and am excited that they have returned to school settled and ready for learning. 

Uniforms

Most of our students are coming to school with the correct uniform and we ask that parents ensure the full uniform requirements including shoes, socks and school hat. Whilst this week is a transition from winter to summer, all students should wear only their summer uniform starting next week, Monday 16th October. 

Swimming

Being confident in the water and learning to swim are important skills for all children.  We support a school learn to swim program for our students however swimming programs need to be booked a year in advance and unfortunately we were unable to have lessons for this year.  I am currently investigating times and dates for programs for our students Kindergarten to Year 5 for 2024 and hope to finalise this soon.  

Good news - we have secured a surf program for Year 6 students this year and I am happy to say that our students will attend a day, run by SEA Australia & Surf Educators International, at Manly beach on Monday 20th November. The program includes a pre video presentation at school and then on the day, teaches surf awareness and surf skills, with children practising skills both in the water and on the sand and then learning to use boards safely.  

Swimming Carnival

Our swimming carnival is on Friday 17th November for students in Years 2-6.  Miss Calizar has sent an event for carnival permission.  

Given we have not had swimming lessons and teachers can’t see our students' swimming skills before the carnival, we did a brief survey with the children and found that across all classes, some of our students indicated that they can not confidently swim 50 metres.  Swimming a full size Olympic pool usually requires consistent practice. 

We therefore ask parents to be cautious when choosing races on the event permission and only nominate for a 50 metre race if they are sure their child can swim the whole race without stopping.  If they cannot confidently swim 50 metres, please choose the non-swimmer event. 

Shine and Share

An exciting idea has been proposed by our leadership team to showcase our students' learning.   ‘Shine and Share’, similar to a class expo, is an opportunity for students to celebrate and display an area of their learning that they are proud of.  Parents are invited to the classroom to see their child’s learning and the learning of their peers.  To organise this event, teachers and students work together to share work that is important to them and enable them to ‘shine’.  Students might choose a piece of writing, some mathematics learning to share, perhaps art work or a piece of music they have learnt.  

Our ‘Shine and Share’ sessions will be held across the last 2 weeks of term - dates to be confirmed and advised by each year level, and will replace the character strength awards which have happened in past years.  We hope this will be a wonderful opportunity to share in the learning of your child’s year, to give thanks to our wonderful teachers and for all, in their own way, to have the opportunity to shine. 

Zing Activ - Gymnastics 

Today is our first day of Gymnastics with Zing Activ.  Each year level will have a 40 minute lesson on Wednesday each week.  The lessons cover movement and balance skills outlined in the syllabus.