Kaya families

 Happy holidays

We have come to the end of Term 1 and there have been a few twists and turns along the way!  I would like to acknowledge the work of the staff who have continued to excel in their classroom, their administrative, and practical work around the school, for the care shown for children, and willingness to work together. 

Thank you to families who have been so supportive of the school and continued to read the alerts and emails that were, for a period, sent daily.  I am grateful that we have been able to work with parents and carers to ensure that children who needed to be tested, were, and kept sick children at home.

Term 2 will present some new challenges and we will continue to respond to these as they arise.  Following the current advice, I can tell you that:

• Year 3-6 children and all staff will continue to wear masks when indoors unless medically exempt
• Assemblies will be reintroduced but limited to a year level. Parents are welcome to attend but must physically distance and wear a mask.  Only honour certificates for the year level doing the assembly will be presented at the assembly.  All other certificates will be read over the PA.
• The option of having parent-teacher interviews face-to-face is available but please make an appointment.
• Families continue to be allowed on the school site to do drop off and pick up but cannot enter the classrooms.

In the last week the school has seen a spike in the number of confirmed positive COVID-19 cases.  Rooms 32, 20, 13, 18 and 6 are the most recent classes who have been most impacted.  Where children have been at school during an infectious period, families have received a letter advising them if isolation is required.

Please continue to monitor your children for symptoms and if they are sick, seek medical advice, do a RAT or PCR, and don’t come to school.  

Communication during the holidays will be kept to a minimum but if it is important, it will be emailed and posted to Connect. 

Until we come back for Term 2, take some time to enjoy not having to worry about what is happening at school.  I hope that everyone gets some rest and uses the time to do things that they enjoy.

Staff news

At the end of the term there will be some staff hellos and goodbyes. 

Hello to Mrs Kim Daniel who is returning to her education assistant role.  Mrs Daniel has been away for a term and now can’t wait to get back to school and reconnect with her colleagues, children and families. 

We say goodbye to Ms Karen Tucker who is taking long service leave for Term 2.  Mr Braden Slatter and Mrs Sue Christie contracts are coming to an end but they will be back doing relief at the school as people take leave.  Mrs Dawn Toomey is leaving us to take on a full-time teaching position at Mercy College.  I would like to acknowledge these staff and thank them for their work during Term 1.  I wish them well for their next venture. 

April Foolishness Day

What a lot of fun!  Thank you to everyone who entered the crazy world of weird and wonderful dressing.  The pictures speak for themselves!  It was an absolute pleasure to walk through the school on Friday morning and genuinely hear excitement and laughter amongst the staff and students.  Staff played some great tricks on their children – a promised brownie was actually a brown E cut from paper, and the chair sizes weren’t right for some of the classes.  The news on the street is that Mr Cutler got a huge fright – well done Kyra! 

Harmony Day and Ride to School

Thank you to Mrs Phillips and her team of helpers who made Harmony Day and Ride to School such a great day.  The bikes looked amazing, and everyone wore something orange.  Having a special day where everyone could be involved in something a bit different was a welcome activity for Week 8. 

Super worker

Well done to Cody from Room 32 on doing an amazing job creating a map of his very own story. 

As part of the school’s literacy program the PP-Year 2 classes have been working extensively with the Talk for Writing program which see children learn a specific type of text, innovate the original text and then write their own original piece.  It is a process that involves looking at details in texts such as structure, characters, places, and plots.  It has been amazing to see what the children are capable of producing.  This program is being extended to the Year 3-6 classes in second semester.

Annual report 2021

It is a pleasure to present to you the school’s annual report for 2021.  The report is a celebration of the things that we enjoyed and did well, provides information about how the school has implemented the strategies in the business plan, and the areas on which we need to improve.  I would like to thank the School Board for their endorsement of the annual report.

School Board

I am pleased to advise the school community of the Board members for 2022:

• Parent representatives (6): Lynne Alldred (Chair), Jay Evans, Anita Kay, James Turner, Sarah Wells, and Jane Hickman
• Staff representatives (5): Shannon Read, Katy Harding, Michelle Goodridge, Skye Mercer (Deputy Chair), and Kyle Easther
• Community representatives (2): Ashley Gunning (on leave) and Vicki Howes-Carter

This term the Board have been working through school finances, providing feedback about the school’s response to COVID-19, and reviewed the annual report.

ANZAC Day ceremony

On Friday we will be holding an ANZAC Day ceremony at school.  As there are current restrictions on assemblies, it will be different.  There will be all of the usual ANZAC traditions but only the Year 6s will sit outside.  Everyone else will be able to see what is happening as it is streamed into the classrooms. 

Easter Hats

Don’t forget that children can wear their craziest and most colourful hats on Friday.  Everyone will be able to show off their creations to their classmates.

Easter Raffle

What an amazing effort!  There was plenty of chocolates and treats in the office which we gave away to the raffle winners.  With 135 prizes the odds of winning were high.  A special congratulations to Parker W who won the golden raffle and took home 10kg of chocolate.

Term 2 planner

The Term 2 planner is attached.  Please keep it handy so that you know what is coming up.