Tough and Unprecedented Times…

For the last few weeks, we have been flooded with news, some of which has been hard to grapple with, and tough to hear and see. In the last week, I've heard numerous stories from our families; stories of loss, hardships, grief and suffering. We have many families who have lost their income, closed their businesses and many are worried as they look after vulnerable family members.

Life at this present time is ‘tough’ for many of our families and there are so many unknowns and uncertainties. That said, I have been amazed by the love and care shown by these same families, who themselves are suffering, to others in our community. Every day this week, I have heard that parents are checking in with staff to see how we are going, sending encouraging emails, writing notes, looking after other school families, showing grace and patience as teachers prepare for our distance learning, and our students have also been so kind and thoughtful.

On behalf of the staff, I would like to say ‘Thank You’ to all of our families for the way you are caring and loving our community, we are definitely stronger together! You all inspire us, and I thank God for the important role that you play in our school community.

At this unprecedented time, I pray that we will all become more dependent on God and put our trust in Jesus! Our prayer and hope for our community comes from Psalm 46. “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear.”

Let us all continue to take refuge in God, our everlasting and faithful God. What a blessing it is to know that in these troubling times, that God is the same yesterday, today and forever!

Miss Bethany Armstrong - Principal

Distance Learning Program Begins

Today, we embark on a new and unprecedented adventure in education. We have always partnered with our families in the education of their children – but now we have an opportunity to take that partnership to the next level.

I would encourage all parents and carers to watch this video which gives an excellent introduction to the Distance Learning Program.

IT at Home

With an increase in the amount of time students are spending on screens and devices many parents may have concerns about security and cyber safety.

School devices sent home with your child do not provide filtering when they are connected to your home WiFi. Therefore, it is our firm belief that the best protection is a common sense approach. We highly recommend that families should establish some device management guidelines. These may include:

• The use of school devices for assigned learning only.

• Packing school devices away outside of learning times and using home devices for entertainment.

• Using school devices in a public space like the living or dining room. Discouraging the use of school devices in bedrooms or in private.

• Taking a proactive approach by asking about the type of activities students are undertaking on the school device.

For parents who still have concerns about security and cyber safety, we recommend the following products, both of which are compatible with our school devices and systems:

1. Circle by Disney

2. FamilyZone

Little Learners Online

This week we are encouraging our Little Learners to go on a teddy bear picnic, at home. Please find below some suggestions/activities for you for your own teddy bear picnic.

• Bake a bunch of teddy bear biscuits

• Sing the famous song The Teddy Bear's Picnic

• Create some teddy bear ears

• Play hide and seek with your teddy bear

Enjoy picnicking as a family, in your backyard of course! We would love to see some photos of our Little Learners on their picnics and share these on our Facebook page. Please feel free to email these photos to our administration team.

Mrs Jane Edler - Little Learners Coordinator

Kinder News

We have had a wonderful start to the year in Kinder.

During this term we have been exploring a wide range of topics to help us build a foundation for future learning. It has been great to help cultivate the idea of being a curious learner both in and outside the classroom. Much of our learning happens when we not only have an interest in something, but when our interest in one area leads us into new ways of thinking and understanding the world.

Over the past few weeks we have been spending some time learning and practicing different songs where we have to sing and perform actions. We have also been focusing on a different number each week, and this past week our focus was on the number 8. We had an excellent opportunity to tie it all in together with the nursery rhyme Incy Wincy Spider. We first learned the song using our bodies to do the actions, then we made some props which we also used to help us sing the song.

Some of our other topics have included learning about seeds and plants, feelings and emotions, seasons and autumn, as well as developing our physical skills balancing along different surfaces. We will be continuing many of these investigations in a variety of different ways as the year continues, and we are excited for the adventures still to come.

Mr Samuel Whittle - Kinder Teacher

Enrolments are open for 2021!

If you're a parent with a child to enrol in 2021 we'd love to hear from you now. We also currently have space this year for students in Prep and Year 4 through to Year 6.

To start the application process, please fill in our online form.

You can find out more about our Kinder program via our website or view our Kinder promotional film on YouTube.