Dear Parents,

Nelson Mandela once said, “A fundamental concern for others in our individual and community lives would go a long way in making the world the better place we so passionately dreamt of.” This Christmas season we have the opportunity to help make this world a better place by doing something for others.  We have decided this year to support two very worthy causes in our community –  the St Vincent de Paul Christmas Hamper Appeal and The Little Juddies Christmas Drought Run.  The Vinnie’s hamper Appeal will provide food and drink for those in our local vicinity who for various reasons are doing it tough and will not be able to celebrate Christmas in the manner in which we all are able to.  The Little Juddies appeal is for food, toys and gift cards for drought stricken country families who are doing it tough.

With 2.9 million people currently living below the poverty line in Australia, including over half a million children, your support to these causes is invaluable. Please ensure that any food items you send in are non-perishable. To uphold the dignity of those receiving the hampers, please also ensure that all food items are not due to expire for 6 months.

In order to support both causes we ask that all those in Blue classes bring in hamper items for the St Vincent de Paul appeal. For the Little Juddies Drought Run we ask that all those in the Gold and Kinder White classes bring in donations as outlined below.  The Little Juddies items need to be at school no later than Thursday 21st November and for the Vinnies Appeal, the following Thursday 28th November.

If you wish to learn more about the Little Juddies Drought Run please go to:

Kinder Transition

Over the last two Tuesdays we have held two of our three Kinder Transition mornings.  This year we have done things a little differently and have held a Transition program for parents as well as the children.  The first week the parents spent some of the morning in Kinder with their children, accompanying them in play based activities.  They had strict rules to follow – no chatting with other parents, no directing their children to what mum or dad wanted to do and actively engage with their child in the activities the children chose to do.  Following this we all gathered back in the hall to discuss what play based learning and Successful Foundations is in order to understand the significance between play and learning. 

This Tuesday we held a Kinder Expo which consisted of tables set up around the hall. Each with a different focus.  Our tables included:  Student Leadership, Extra Curricular Activities, Library, Canteen, Uniform, P&F, OOSH, Learning Support amongst others.  Rather than parents being required to sit and listen to staff talk in a more formal setting, this Expo enabled parents to move around and find out information on levels that were relevant to them as well as being able to meet and connect with other parents – both old and new.

A huge thanks goes to all our parents who gave of their time to both ‘man’ tables and share their knowledge as well as to our current Kinder parents who provided and organised a most delicious Morning Tea. We had a range of students from Years 3 – 6 who assisted us at the Expo. They were extremely mature and helpful and we are very grateful to them and to the choir who entertained us with their favourite song, “Shine Like a Diamond” and our rousing school song.

Working Bee

What a magnificent turnout we had for our Working Bee and what a great atmosphere abounded.  We accomplished so much on the day and the feedback about the changes as well as the actual day itself has been wonderful.  The connections people made with one another over a shovel, guerney or bucket of woodchip were terrific and there was a real sense of a community in action!  It was lovely to reenergise afterwards at Bar Beach Bowling Club with a sausage and salad lunch and cold drink.  We thank the P&F for both providing and cooking this.  To all those families who came along, we are so very grateful to you both for your hard work and for your wonderfully positive approach that abounded. 

Take a look at our Before and After photos to see a little of what was achieved. It is incredibly satisfying to see what was achieved in a relatively short amount of time. 

Important Dates