NAPLAN week is upon us and we have already completed many of the different range of tests across our Years 3, 5, 7 & 9 classes. Thank you to our students who have come prepared with all the equipment ready and charged to complete their best work in the nation-wide tests. It is a mammoth endeavour to organise as we battle shortages of space and staff to ensure a suitable environment for our students. Thank you to Ms Marsay and the staff who have supported this mandatory annual testing. We will continue into the next week with testing and will have to manage additional testing days for catch up tests. If your child is going to be away next week and tests are scheduled please contact the school because the paperwork to complete around students missing from tests is to be completed within the testing period.

IMPORTANT: The NAPLAN testing period commenced this week on 12 March and will conclude on 24 March. Please refer to the testing schedule regarding the dates and times for their tests to help avoid any clashes with appointments and other commitments. Please try to avoid making any external appointments during this time. Ms Marsay has sent out expectations and details for all students regarding their iPads and testing expectations.

This afternoon will be the annual Colour Run - a highlight on the school's calendar. It is a lovely festive and fun evening for families. It is an evening of good, “clean” fun. It will be run throughout the school campus along the usual route and registrations will be available from 5pm for a 5.30pm start. $10 per person or $30 for a family of 4. BBQ and drinks will be available for sale and our wonderful Canteen manager Amanda will have the canteen open with all the usual goodies for sale. Please note that EFTPOS is available for registrations but we prefer CASH at the BBQ please. Thank you to the P & F for all their efforts to organise another social function for our community and raise funds for our school at the same time.

As we move through the term there have been some fantastic learning opportunities for our students. Our secondary students have visited the creek and done soil sampling, others have started their archaeological digs, cooked lots of pavlovas and other Australian dishes and so many other fabulous learning moments. Keep an eye on Facebook for the visual gallery of some of these experiences. Already there has been some thorough planning for the 2025 excursion programs. The Year 7 immersion and retreat to Camp Hudson is coming up quickly, the Year 9 Sydney trip are researching places to visit, Year 8s trip to the coast is now on the calendar and Stage 3 have already begun fundraising to offset costs for their trip to Canberra. We are grateful for the enthusiastic support for our excursion program and look forward to many other opportunities for our students. Please keep an eye out for COMPASS requests for deposits to secure bookings.

Hopefully everyone has made note that the schedule and form for Primary assemblies is changing. With the refurbishment we do not have the space for the traditional K-6 assembly and this has necessitated a few tweaks, modifications and changes to how we celebrate learning in each class and Stage. Stay tuned for the new model and schedule. Also due to the lack of space we have split into K-2 and 3-6 for the Monday in-school assemblies. This has traditionally been where school announcements have been made and class awards for the week have been presented. We have also nominated this time for the presentation of the Bronze Award. (Parents are not in attendance at these assemblies). We are working to find a better model of awards and presentation opportunities to celebrate the positive experiences of our students.

Next term our school will go under the microscope in an external audit of our procedures, practices and processes to ensure we meet compliance requirements. This is a 5 Year cycle and our staff are busy preparing for the inspection which will happen in early May. Thank you to our staff for all that they do to ensure that our students get the very best education and care.

REMINDER: School Photo envelopes have been sent home. Please drag them out of the bottom of bags so that you can get your order in before the day - 26 March. We would greatly appreciate that you avoid appointments on this day and that students continue to abide by the uniform policy in all aspects.

Remember it does not cost anything to be kind and it is one of the greatest gifts that you can give.

God Bless

Ms Nicky Trinder

Principal