Dear Queenscliff Parents and Carers,

We have officially launched our new Queenscliff Primary School website today! The redesign of the website aims to improve our Schools communication with families on upcoming events, curriculum programs and operations so that our parent community feels more informed about what is happening at their child’s school. The school newsletter will continue to be distributed fortnightly, however, will be accessed now via the website rather than a document on Compass. Families can subscribe to the website to receive notifications on when updates occur to the website. I encourage families to take time to explore the website to learn more about our school and what we offer for you and your child’s education. I would like to extend my gratitude and appreciation to Mrs. Ebony Tannouri, who has worked tirelessly on the redesign of the school website, compiling photos and content for our website so that it is comprehensive and informative for our parent community.

Parent Information Evening

Last Tuesday 13 February, our teachers hosted a Parent Information Evening to communicate to families our classroom and school procedures, curriculum information and key events. I would like to extend my appreciation to all of the parents and carers who were able to attend the evening and to thank our teachers for their outstanding presentations. The presentations can be accessed via Compass for those families who were unable to attend the evening.

Parent and Teacher Meet and Greets

There has been a buzz about the school throughout this week, as families have scheduled appointments to meet with their child’s classroom teacher or specialist teachers as part of the Meet and Greet Parent and Teacher Interviews. The teachers have felt that these meetings have been extremely valuable in helping them learn more about your child’s strengths, interests and goals for 2024. It has also been a wonderful opportunity for families to meet and get to know our teachers.

Assembly

We have our very first assembly for 2024 on Friday 23 February 2024 commencing at 9:00am. I encourage all of parents, carers, friends and community members to come along and join for our special gathering.

School Council Nominations

Nominations for School Council are currently open. Parents can collect nomination forms from our School Office. Parents may wish to self-nominate themselves for the position or have another member of our community nominate them for the position. Nominations will close on Monday 26 February 2024. All signed nomination forms are to be returned to the School Office or emailed to queenscliff.ps@education.vic.gov.au by the closing date to be considered.

Depending on the number of nominations, a ballot will be formed for the community to vote for our parent members to join the School Council. Ballots forms can be collected from the School Office and forms will be emailed to all families. All completed ballot forms must be submitted in person at the School Office or sent via post. The Ballot process will open on Wednesday 28 February 2024 and close on Friday 15 March 2024.

Parent Class Representatives

We are seeking 2 parents to be Class Representatives for each class in 2024. Parent Representatives aim to increase the communication between the school and parent community. Class Representatives will meet with the School Leadership Team termly and facilitate communication in organising class/grade level events outside of school hours. Class Representatives will also assist in organising parent volunteers for school events, functions and fundraisers. Parents and carers who are interested in being a Class Representative for their child’s class are to email the School Office at queenscliff.ps@education.vic.gov.au . Registrations for Class Representatives will close on Friday 1 March 2024.

Song Room

This week, our Year 3/4 students commenced their engagement in the Song Room program with their teaching artist, Tess Duddy. Our students will participate in the performing arts and wellbeing program each week for 1 hour. The Year 3/4 cohort over the course of the semester will develop skills around movement, song, dance and drama that will combine into a performance in Term 3. We look forward to seeing the magic Tess and Song Room creates with our students.

School Photos

On Tuesday 27 February, our School Photos are scheduled. Students are to come to school in their full school uniform ready for their photos to be taken. Students are to have their hair styled neatly and we look forward to our school yard full of students wearing QPS polo tops, navy pants or shorts with navy or white socks. Girls can also wear their red and white school dresses if they choose. Photos will commence at 9:00am. Parents will be provided with information via Compass and unique image codes will be given to your child on the day of school photos, for families to register online to select and pay for photos.

Financial Contributions

I would like to extend my gratitude to families who have paid voluntary financial contributions at the end of last year and at the beginning of this year. We are continuing to accept contributions from families until the end of Term 1. All students have been provided with their necessary stationery supplies and learning resources this year, and we would be grateful to families for their financial contributions to assist in covering the costs of these resources and to support our Specialist program materials/equipment. Thank you for your support and valued contributions to our school.Voluntary financial contributions to our school will be based on two categories:Curriculum Contributions of $370 - These financial contributions pay for curriculum items and activities, stationery, online subscriptions and resources for Specialist subjects. Other Contributions of a minimum of $50 - These financial contributions pay for non-curricular items, including playground development, improved technology and our School Building Fund. Payment can be made via credit/debit on Compass or at the School Office.

Gardens and Grounds Committee

Our Gardens and Grounds Committee will be meeting next Thursday 29 February to devise goals and a master plan for improving our grounds so that our school is a safe, engaging and imaginative space for our students to learn and play. A focus for our fundraising efforts this year will be going towards improving our grounds, including building a sandpit, nature play space and sensory garden for our students. I would like to thank Nathan Ulph, Ebony Tannour, Jackie Morris, Melissa Fitzgerald, Hazel Brown, Stuart Kent, Richard Fewster, Chris Wilmot and Yolanda Wosny for volunteering their time and enthusiasm to form the committee.

Nyatne baa Gobata

(Thank you and take care)

Mat McRae
Principal

School Photos 2024 – Queenscliff Primary School

These will commence at 9.00am. Please ensure your children come to school ready for their photos to be taken, wearing full school uniform and their hair styled neatly. We look forward to seeing a school yard full of students wearing their Queenscliff polo tops, navy pants or shorts with navy or white socks. Girls can also wear their red and white school dresses if they choose.

There is no need to return any forms or money to school.
Unique image codes will be issued to all students on/after photo day so families can register online to view images when they become available in the webshop.
Registration is simple, just follow the 3 simple steps on your child’s personalised flyer once you receive it and remember to add the codes for all your children attending this school.
Even if you registered last year, it’s important that you do again this year using your child’s 2024 image code to link their images for the current year with your contact details.
When images are ready to view and in the webshop, all parents who have registered will be notified by SMS and email.

Once registered, please wait for notification that 2024 images are online to view before making your purchase.

Art Report

For the past 2 weeks, Grade 1 students have been looking at the wonderful pop art pieces of Andy Warhol. Using his ‘Flowers’ piece as inspiration, students began cutting out flowers from coloured card and gluing them onto large MDF boards. They then added leaf and grass details with posca pens. The finished pieces are not technically ‘Pop Art’, but I think you would agree that they are absolutely sensational.

5/6C Report

In 5/6C, we have been learning about Factors during Numeracy sessions. A Factor is a number that divides a given number without leaving a remainder. Every number (except for 1) has at least 2 factors – itself and 1. Students have been recording factors for each number beginning at 1. Did you know that the numbers 24 and 30 have 8 factors each?