Principal's Message - 3rd September

Dear Queenscliff Parents and Carers,

Despite the crazy gusts of wind and unpredictable weather we have recently experienced, our school has been in flow with quality teaching and learning, and a range of exciting events over the past few weeks. From Athletics at Goldsworthy Reserve, Book Week to Science Day and the Toy and Book Fair run by the SRC. I have been impressed with the way our students have shown persistence and determination in attending school and adjusting to new timetables each day over the past few weeks to cater to the inclement weather outside. They have shown flexibility and understanding.

‘Trivia for Nature’ - Tickets on Sale!

We are excited for our Trivia for Nature fundraising event this Friday 6th September at 360Q, commencing from 6:00pm. Tickets are still available for parents, families and friends to join us on the night. There will be prizes and raffles to win on the night. We encourage guests to dress up in a theme with their table. All funds raised from the trivia night will go towards the development of the Nature Play Space in our playground in 2025. If parents wish to purchase single or double tickets to the trivia event (without having to book a whole table of six), they visit the school office this week.

We have been extremely grateful to the local businesses and families who have donated items and vouchers to the raffle. Thank you. If you have an item or voucher you wish to donate, please feel free to drop by the school office before Thursday 5 September.

Book Tickets Here!

School Volunteer Training

We are hosting another School Volunteer Training session next Thursday 12 September 2024 from 3:15pm to 4:15pm. If you are interested in volunteering in the Prep to Year 2 classrooms to support our students with their learning, then we encourage you to participate in the training. School volunteer training is open to all parents, grandparents, community volunteers and friends. All volunteers are required to have a Working with Children’s Check and to have participated in the Volunteer Training as part of our Child Safety practices. We would encourage grandparents who may have more time to volunteer to participate. We would value your contribution and involvement in our school.

To register your attendance, please select the link below and enter your details.

Click here to register: School Volunteer Training Registration

Book Week Parade

On Friday 23 August, our school celebrated Book Week with an outstanding, vibrant and creative Book Week Parade. Students, teachers and parents all dressed up as a book character. We were blown away by the creativity, imagination and enthusiasm of our students and parent community. Each class had the opportunity to parade their costumes at our Friday assembly. Thank you to our parents and families for supporting our students in dressing up for the event. Book Week is a special time to celebrate the power of books and good literature. Books have the special superpower of being able to transport us to another world, empathise and feel the emotions of others, discover new and exciting information and imagine.

Prep Farm to Table Restaurant

On Thursday 29th August, our Prep class ran a Farm to Table restaurant called ‘Queenie’. Throughout this term, our Preps have been learning about farm animals and where food comes from. As a showcase of their learning, the Preps made bread rolls, butter, pasta and lemon cake from scratch using vegetables from our garden and natural ingredients. They then invited myself and other parent volunteers in to enjoy their cooking delights. I was highly impressed by our Preps knowledge of farm foods and the process of how it makes it from the farm to the table in a restaurant.

Thank you Miss Garner

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Miss Lucy Garner, our Pre-Service Teacher, who has had placement in our Prep class with Mrs Jackie Morris over the past 7 weeks. Lucy has contributed significantly to the development and learning of our Preps, and is a highly dedicated and passionate educator who immersed herself seamlessly into our Queenscliff community. On Friday, we farewelled Lucy as she concluded her final year of study before commencing her career as a teacher. We wish you well Lucy!

Snowsports

I would like to congratulate Jamie Dean, Miles Garland, Sol Eldridge, Cooper Harandian and Darcy Harandian for representing our school for the first time at the Victorian Interschool Snowsports Competition at Mount Buller. Our students competed against students from both government and independent schools across the state, and overall came 20th out of 30th schools in the Primary Co-Educational division. Our boys showed determination and courage to compete in their selected events, despite the weather conditions being highly challenging and wet with low visibility at times. We are extremely proud of you!

Year 5/6 Embrace Diversity Day

Last Monday 26th August, our Year 5/6 students joined students from St Aloysius and Point Lonsdale Primary School to participate in an Embrace Diversity day. Students explored the concept of privilege and discrimination as well as practical strategies they can use to be a ‘positive upstander’ in our community. Students participated in group tasks, art reflection activities and role-plays throughout the day. It was a fantastic opportunity for our students to connect with students from the other two schools in the Borough. We also had the Mayor of Borough of Queenscliffe, Councillor Ross Ebbels, Councillor Isabelle Tolhurst and Councillor Rob Minty join us for part of the day

Toy and Book Fair

On Friday 30th August, the SRC and Miss Robertson coordinated the Second Hand Toy and Book Fair to raise funds for Cottage by the Sea. Overall, $362.00 was raised from purchases students and families made. The SRC and Miss Robertson did a tremendous job in organising and setting up the fair. Thank you to our families and wider school community who donated generously to the fair. We had some leftover toys and books that will be donated to local charities. It is wonderful to see our student leaders implementing fundraisers and events to support local charities and community organisations in the Borough. Well done Miss R and the SRC.

School Attendance

School attendance is imperative to support your child’s positive engagement and connection to our school as well as enhancing their learning outcomes. If your child is unwell or ill, we encourage you to keep them at home so that they can recover. This will also reduce the chances of illness spreading throughout our school community.

Recently, we have had a significant rise in the number of families choosing to take family holidays during school term. The Department of Education highly encourages families to avoid taking family holidays during the term due to the impact on student learning and engagement with school. The Department promotes families using the designated school holiday periods for family getaways. If your family is planning to have a holiday during the school term, it is important that this is communicated by parents to your child’s teacher via email or a phone call to the school office.

In addition, if your child is absent from school due to illness, appointment or family holiday, families are required to explain the absence via the Compass application. All absences should be explained. Our school is required to contact families directly either via phone or email, when a student has an unexplained absence. Thank you for your support.

Assembly

This Friday 6th September, parents, friends and community members are invited to join us for our school assembly at 9:00am. We will have 5/6C, Japanese and Year 1 showcasing their learning with us.

Prep to Year 3 Athletics Day

This Friday 6th September, our Prep to Year 3 students will participate in an Athletics Day at QPS. Students will participate in a variety of events, including sprinting, long jump and novelty games. The Athletics Day will run from 11:30am until 1:30pm. We will have students from Matthew Flinders Girls Secondary College volunteering to assist in leading events on the day.

School Council

I look forward to meeting with our School Council next Monday 9th September 2024.

Nyatne baa Gobata

(Thank you and take care)

Mat McRae

Principal


Class News

Year 2 News

Potato Olympics!

The Year two students started the term with Potato Olympics in Numeracy. It was fun and engaging, built teamwork, while exploring estimating and using measurement in real life maths situations. Student built a profile for their potato athlete from a country of their choice. The athletes competed in a variety of events, students recorded each team members results and used line graphs and bar charts to demonstrate their understandings. This unit was celebrated with an Olympics closing ceremony, medals were handed out to winning potato athletes.

Grade 3/4TA News

Maths Investigations

In 3/4TA we have been learning about the strength of different 3D objects. We kicked off our investigations by designing and constructing various 3D shapes using matchsticks.

Once our matchstick creations were complete, it was time to put them to the test! We added weights (our workbooks) to each shape to see which design could carry the most load before breaking. It was fascinating to watch how some shapes held up better than others, sparking discussions about why certain structures were stronger. We came to the conclusion that the pyramid was the strongest shape!

Through this investigation, we learned not only about the properties of different shapes but also about the importance of design in creating strong structures. The students were enthusiastic about testing their models and analysing the results. It was a fantastic way to combine hands-on learning with real-world applications of mathematical concepts.

Science News

Our Science Day was a huge success in week 6, full of some engaging, hands on experiments, guest sustainability expert, STEM building and research. Thank you again for the support from students, families and teachers. In class have been having such a wonderful, messy time this Term. With our focus on chemical science, students have been exploring how different chemical and physical reactions can occur when they mix different substances. The preps, grade ones and twos explored the difference between a solution and suspension and how the density of a substance will affect how it mixes (or doesn't) mix with another substance. Grade 3/4s learnt about the different properties of a solid, liquid and gas and how to create these forms of matter by combining different substances. In grade 5/6 students have discovered different ways of making carbon dioxide and specific properties of gas. Did you know while most people think we breathe in oxygen, only 21% of what we breathe in is oxygen, while 78% is nitrogen.We are excited to finish the term with some cooking (food science) in the kitchen using some of the beautiful produce we have grown in the veggie garden.

Physical Education News

This term, we had the pleasure of welcoming three players from Bellarine Storm who spent a day with our Grade 3-6 students, teaching them basketball skills. The students learned passing, catching, dribbling control, and practiced shooting in short competitions.

We also had Coach Nick and Coach Luca from Kelly Sports join us to teach Tee Ball. Unfortunately, due to severe weather, our Lightning Premiership was cancelled. We're hoping to reschedule this event so that our Grade 5/6 students can showcase their skills. We will notify families once a new date is confirmed.

Our Grade 4-6 students had a great time at the Bellarine District Athletics carnival held at Goldsworthy Reserve in Corio. The day was filled with excitement and perfect weather, allowing students to compete in various track and field events. We are thrilled to announce that 13 students qualified for the Division Athletics carnival, which will take place on September 10th at Goldsworthy Reserve.

Here are the qualifying students per event for our students in their individual age groups:

  • 100m: Ravi Patel, Jasmine LeRodda
  • 200m: Xavier Grainger, Winter Boyd, Jasmine LeRodda, Mae Gorgievski
  • 800m: Xavier Grainger, Nyah Lapham, Ravi Patel, Beau Mieszkowski, Zuri Lapham
  • Discuss: Olivia Warring, Winter Boyd
  • Long jump: Aria Wolter, Annabelle Clingan
  • Shot Put: Jude Spencer, Sophia Erichsen
  • Triple Jump: Jude Spencer, Annabelle Clingan, Beau Mieszkowski

Please join me in congratulating these students and wishing them the best of luck in the next round of competition.

On Friday 6th September we have our grade Prep-3 mini athletic sports carnival at school. We invite families to join us for this fun event. The event will begin after recess at 11:30am.

Melissa Fitzgerald

Community News

Community News

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