Dear Queenscliff Parents and Carers,
On Friday 14 March, we hosted our second assembly for 2025. It was a tremendous celebration of student learning with showcases from our Year 1 class, 3/4R and 5/6H classes. It was wonderful to hear about amazing learning that has been happening in classrooms this term, from the struggles and triumphs of the ‘Learning Pit’, persuasive argument writing on whether an artwork is a rabbit or duck, to how day and night occurs and why we have seasons. Also, I would like to congratulate Lily Golightly on sharing such a heartfelt and beautifully written Acknowledgement of Country. Thank you Lily.
Cross Country
On Thursday 13 March, students from Prep to Year 6 competed in the Queenscliff Primary School’s annual Cross Country event. It was a sensational morning, and thankfully our students and parent community enjoyed some cooler weather making the conditions for running ideal. We were so impressed by the outstanding efforts of all students in challenging themselves to compete in their age level events, including our new Prep class. Congratulations to all students for your persistence, sportsmanship and team spirit you demonstrated on the day. It was heartwarming to see our students cheering each other on throughout the event. A big congratulations to Learmonth who came out on top as our overall winners for the day!
Thank you to all of the amazing parent volunteers who assisted with the running of the event in being course marshalls. Unfortunately, we would not have been able to provide a course that ran along the Bellarine Rail Trail, without having parent volunteers. Your support ensured our students were safe, supervised and supported throughout their entire event. Thank you!
Also, I would like to acknowledge and celebrate the amazing organisation and leadership of Mrs. Melissa Fitzgerald. She did a tremendous job in organising the event to ensure that students were well prepared with practice runs of the course during PE, through to course marking, staff and volunteer organisation, timetabling and first aid management.
Congratulations to the following students who have qualified with times to represent our school at the District Cross Country event held next Wednesday 26 March.
Age Group | Name |
12/ 13 Boys (2013 & 2014) 3km | Oliver Kent Charlie High |
12/13 Girls (2013 & 2014) 3km | Annabelle Clingan Mae Gorgievski Loretta Boyd Kitty Britton Ruby Vistarini |
11 Boys (2014) 3km | Xavier Grainger Marcel Sayegh Jude Spencer Oliver Talbot-Dunn |
11 Girls (2014) 3km | Nyah Lapham Eve LePage Asher Clayden Betty Huggins |
9/10 Boys (2015 & 2016) 2km | Thomson Macmillan George Kent Kim Gorgievski Hamish Fewster Patrick Fewster Thomas McManus Hugo Stacey Auggie Tuttle Lachie Foott Will Ulph Tariq Sayegh Juno Haverkamp Henry Vosbergen Thomas Clifford Marlon Peters |
9/10 Girls (2015 & 2016) 2km | Nienke Martino Alice High Georgia Ward Isabelle Berry Heidi Kinsman Macy Murphy Alice Kinsman Hannah Rishton |
Photographing, Filming, Recording Students
Parents and carers are reminded to ensure they have carefully read our School’s policy on Photographing, Filming, Recording Students Policy. Please see below link.
Photographing, Filming, Recording Students Policy
When attending assemblies, sporting events, performances or other school related events, parents and carers are permitted to film or photograph the event for their own personal use. Photos and film are not permitted to be published online or on social media. If families wish to post film or photos onto social media or online, they must only take photos or film of their own child.
It is important for all to recognise that some families in our school community have not given consent or permission for photos or film of their child to be published online or social media. We ask all parents and carers to respect the privacy of students and the wishes of all of our families in ensuring the policy is followed by all school community members.
Garden Working Bee and Vegetable Garden Volunteers
I would like to extend a heartfelt ‘thank you’ and my deepest appreciation to all of the students, parents, carers and family members who assisted at our QPS Working Bee on Friday 14 March. It was truly a scene from ‘Backyard Blitz’ with Jamie Durie. The vegetable garden and bike storage area was transformed within hours. Volunteers weeded, added compost and pea straw to all of our vegetable gardens, mulched pathways, planted indigenous plants around the bike storage area and refurbished the playground equipment’s soft fall. Now our vegetable gardens are ready and raring to go for Autumn planting of vegetables that our students will commence this week during their Science lessons. Thank you!
Also, a big thank you to Mrs. Nicki Reefman, Mrs. Jackie Morris, Mrs. Morgan Hickey, Heidi Boyd and Naomi Stacey for all of their efforts in organising the catering and cooking the barbeque for volunteers. A huge effort by all and it was a wonderful way to celebrate hard work that was put into the gardens by our volunteers and staff. Thank you!
A special thank you to the following businesses who donated barbeque supplies to support the efforts of our volunteers:
Bellarine Country Butchers provided delicious sausages
Bakers Delight Kingston provided tasty bread
Woolworths Kingston who provided a voucher to allow our school to purchase drinks, onions and condiments. Thank you!
Vegetable Garden Volunteers
We are seeking community members, grandparents and parents who have a ‘green thumb’, enjoy being outdoors and have some spare time to volunteer to assist us with our vegetable garden. We are hoping to form a small group of volunteers to help our school with maintaining our vegetable garden so that it is kept in top notch condition. Volunteers may assist with weeding, watering vegetables, mulching, refurbishing our resident scarecrow and/or fencing when required. If you are interested, please email Mrs. Melanie Vistarini at melanie.vistarini@education.vic.gov.au .
Parent Workshop with Lisa Taylor - Thursday 27 March
We are excited to be hosting a Parent Workshop for QPS parents and carers with Child and Family Therapist - Lisa Taylor. In this interactive workshop, families will have the opportunity to learn:
How to understand and respond to your child's school-related anxiety
Practical tools for managing tricky morning routines
Strategies to build your child's confidence and resilience
Ways to strengthen home-school partnerships to build your child’s willingness to engage with school
The workshop will be held at Queenscliff Primary School on Thursday 27 March at 7pm - 7:45pm. Light refreshments and snacks will be provided. Parents and carers must register their attendance using the link below. Unfortunately due to the interactive nature of the workshop, it will not be available online.
Before and After School Care - Survey
Our School Council would like all QPS families to complete the After School Care Survey to help our school determine the needs of our school community. We ask that all families complete the survey by Friday 21 March 2025. Even if your child does not use After School Care, it is important that we have all families complete the survey to inform School Council decision making and planning for the future to meet the needs of our school community. Families only need to complete the survey once per family. The survey will take five minutes to complete. Please click the link below to complete the survey.
We have many families inform our school that they are currently on the Waiting List for After School Care and we have had enquiries regarding Before School Care and Holiday Programs.
Harmony Day - Friday 21 March
This Friday 21 March, our school will be celebrating Harmony Day. This year’s theme is ‘Harmony - We all have a role to play’. Students will participate in classroom activities focused on acceptance, inclusion and diversity throughout the day.
Students are invited to wear a splash of orange with their school uniform on Friday. This could include a headband, bracelet, ribbons, necklace or socks. Families are invited to tie an orange ribbon on the front fence with your child as a commitment to promoting inclusivity and understanding in our community. Students may wish to bring in a plate of food to share with their classmates representative of their family’s cultural background or a food celebrated within the culture of your family. If families do send in a plate of food, please ensure that an ingredients list is attached and that parents/carers take into consideration allergies of students within your child’s class. Families may wish to contact their child’s teacher to confirm dietary requirements of their child’s class. Thank you to Mrs. Megan Fullard and our Wellbeing Leaders, Saskia Fitzgerald and Laila Follett for organising this special day for our school community.
Prep to Year 2 Swimming - North Bellarine Aquatic Centre
Commencing next week, from Monday 24 March until Friday 4 April, our students in Prep to Year 2 will participate in daily swimming lessons at North Bellarine Aquatic Centre. Students will participate in ‘Learn to Swim’ lessons in small groups of six students over the ten days. Parents and carers are encouraged to ensure they have completed their consent forms and payment on Compass in order for your child to participate in the program. Students not participating in the program will remain at school. Students are encouraged to come to school wearing their swimmers underneath their school uniform to prevent students having to get changed at the pool. Students will need the following items:
Towel
Goggles
Change of underwear
A small bag to put their swimming items into for the journey to and from the pool.
District Lightning Premiership - Soccer
District Lightning Premiership Soccer will be held on Thursday 8 May 2025 - Week 3 of Term 2 for our Year 5/6 students. Trials will be held this Friday 21 March for students to be selected into teams. Our school will have one boys team and one girls team participating in the event.
School Committees
We have had limited interest from parents and carers to join our committees this year following the last newsletter. Our school values parent involvement and engagement and we believe it is a partnership, between school and home, to make our school the best it can be. As a result, we invite you to consider joining one of the committees listed below. We understand that many parents/carers are busy with family and work commitments. However, joining one of the below committees does not involve a significant amount of your time. As they say, ‘many hands, makes light work for all’. We would appreciate your support and involvement.
We have the following committees in 2025:
Grounds and Gardens Committee
QPS Community Engagement and Fundraising Committee
Queenscliff Market Committee
The Grounds and Gardens Committee meet twice a term to discuss plans and projects to improve the school grounds. In 2025, our focus will be on constructing a nature play space and refurbishing the hardcourt basketball area. The committee are involved in sourcing contractors, creating plans for refurbishment and organising community working bees.
The QPS Community Engagement Fundraising Committee will work together to create a plan for hosting termly school community events to increase parent engagement and support the planning and development of fundraising for the school to improve learning resources, equipment and technology.
The Queenscliff Market is a significant fundraiser for our school. Annually, the Queenscliff Market can fundraise up to $20,000 for our school. In the past, the Queenscliff Market has primarily been coordinated by one parent volunteer, Lisa Golighlty. However, 2025 is her final year of being a parent in our school community. As a result, it is time for the ‘baton to be passed on’ as they say. We are seeking to create a committee made up of parent volunteers to support the organisation, communication and preparation involved in the Queenscliff Market, which is a pivotal fundraiser for our school. The roles of committee members will be streamlined so that they are not momentous or significant. Rather, we take the approach of ‘many hands, make light work’.
Key roles that members of the Queenscliff Market Committee would undertake include the following:
Engage in communication with market stallholders via email
Send out online application forms to market stallholders when requested (new enquiries)
Provide communication to market stallholders regarding fees, how to apply, market dates and direct them to information on the Queenscliff Market website.
Recordkeeping of important documentation (e.g. insurance)
Attend regular committee meetings with the Market Committee
Record payments on spreadsheet and advise stallholder of payment received
Organise monthly market roster in collaboration with the school’s administration team
Prepare market site day or two prior – whipper snip around brick markers and paint numbers as needed
Plan market day site map for stallholder locations
On Market day – An Admin person is required to ‘bump in’ at 7am with volunteers and one to be there to pack up with volunteers.
If you are interested in being part of one of the above committees, please register your interest by completing the form below, including your name, contact details and the committee with which you would like to be involved in.
QPS Committee Volunteer Registration
Assembly
Our final assembly for Term 1 will be held on Friday 4 April. Parents, carers and community members are invited to join us for this special celebration whereby we will have Prep, 5/6T, PE and Performing Arts showcasing their learning.
School Council
Our next School Council meeting will be held on Monday 24 March. It is the first School Council meeting with our new members, Fleur Hewitt and Daniela Sayegh. I look forward to meeting with our 2025 School Council members to discuss school operations and planning for 2025.
Nyatne baa Gobata
(Thank you and take care)
Mat McRae
Principal
