Principal's Message
‘Tis the Season of Giving
As the festive season is upon us, we are organising a special gift drive for Feed Me Bellarine. Families are invited to donate a wrapped gift for a child and place it under the Christmas tree in the foyer from the beginning of next week, Monday 25 November. Please ensure your gift is wrapped and labelled with the gender and age range that is suitable for the gift. If the gift is suitable for both genders, please write ‘neutral’. We will be delivering the donated gifts to Fed Me Bellarine on Friday 20 December.
Transition Day - Tuesday 10 December
On Tuesday 10 December 2024, students will participate in a Transition Day. This will involve your child spending time in their new classroom with their new class for 2025 and they will meet their new class teacher. The transition session will occur from 9am until 1:30pm. The Transition Day aims to reduce your child’s anxieties and worries about the commencement of school in 2025 in knowing more about their class for 2025. Students will participate in a range of activities throughout Transition Day including 'getting to know you' tasks, team building initiatives and developing classroom expectations and agreements for 2025. Students will receive a letter from their teacher and will have an opportunity to write a letter to their new teacher to tell them about themselves, how they learn best, strengths and their interests. After lunch, students will resume back in their current classes for the remainder of the day. Our Prep Class for 2025 will be connected with their buddies for 2025 on this day. Teachers will inform students on their classes for 2025 on Wednesday 4 December.
Bunnings BBQ Fundraiser
On Saturday 30 November, our school hosted a Bunnings BBQ fundraiser to raise funds to support our Nature Play Space project in 2025. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our School Council member, Heidi Boyd, for her outstanding leadership and organisation of the event.
Thank you to the following families who donated supplies for the barbeque, from soft drinks, serviettes, garbage bags to condiments and foil trays. Your donations greatly support the success of the fundraiser.
Sayegh Family
Evans Family
Harris Family
Whitton Family
Harandian Family
Serong Family
Follett Family
Clingan Family
Vistarini Family
Fewster Family
Thank you to the following volunteers who assisted on the day serving customers, cooking sausages and onions and doing lots of different odd jobs to make it a smooth operation.
Heidi and Mat Boyd
Martin Monster
Andy Gaskell
Guy Le Page
Belinda Dean
Catherine Healy
Xavier Fitzgerald
James Clifford
Mel Vistarini
Holly Tatterson
Fred Rhoads
Fleur Hewitt
Graham Hewitt
Overall, the barbecue raised $2000. An impressive result and this event will contribute significantly to the construction of the Nature Play Space in 2025.
Year 5/6 Beach Awareness Program
On Monday 2 December and Tuesday 3 December, students in Year 5/6 participated in a Beach Awareness program. As part of the two day event, students engaged in beach safety training, surfing lessons, beach games and were given a behind the scenes tour of the Ocean Grove Surf Life Saving Club. It was brilliant to see students giving the surfing lessons a go and showing persistence with the waves, challenging themselves to improve their swimming and surfing skills. Students represented our school with pride, showing respect to the guest speakers and surfing instructors. Thank you to Mrs. Melissa Fitzgerald for coordinating the program to provide this wonderful opportunity for our students.
Student Leader Speech Presentations
Last Wednesday 27 November, we had our aspiring candidates for student leadership positions deliver their speeches to students in Year 2 to Year 5 and staff. We were highly impressed and proud of every student who presented a speech, showing courage, determination and effort. Students presented on their character traits, past experiences as a leader and what their vision is for 2025 as a school leader. Well done! Following the speech, students and staff voted on four preferences. Student leaders for 2025 will be determined by their written application, interview, content of their speeches and votes, as well as their history in demonstrating QPS values at school and in the community. The student leaders for 2025 will be announced at our final assembly on Friday 13 December.
SRC Passion Projects
Last week our SRC judged the Passion Projects created by students from Prep to Year 6. We were highly impressed by the creativity, imagination and quality of the projects. Students made dioramas, jewellery, artworks, poems and songs based on the theme of outer space. The Passion Projects are on display in the School Office and we encourage families to come in to view them. On the Class News page you will find the winners of the Passion Projects and photos. Congratulations to the SRC and Miss. Robertson for leading and organising such a wonderful initiative for our students.
SRC House Spelling Bee Competition
On Friday 22 November, students participated in a House Spelling Bee competition led by the SRC. Students competed in their Houses against each other to spell common words based on their age level. We were highly impressed by the courage, determination and persistence shown by students during the competition. Congratulations to the following Spelling Bee champions.
F-1: Edie Green
2-3: Rosie Le Page
4: Nate Thapa
5-6: Tom May
Students earned house points that will go towards the Koonawarra Cup. Congratulations to Gelibrand who were the overall winners.
1st - Gellibrand: 169 points
2nd - Fraser: 142 points
3rd - Learmonth: 117 points
4th - Hobson: 109 points
Grounds and Gardens
Works for the construction of our new Specialist Classroom have commenced this week. A new temporary fence has been installed, and the shade sail will be taken down in the coming week to make room for the new classroom. The installation of the Specialist Classroom is planned for Saturday 14 December and Sunday 15 December. Students have been informed by their class teachers this week to avoid playing close to the fence during break times and teachers on yard duty will ensure students maintain a safe distance whilst the construction is occurring. Students will commence using the new classroom for specialist classes in 2025.
We have had significant progress on the development of the bike storage area over the past week. Over the coming weeks, we will have a slab of concrete laid and a new fence, along with bars for the bike racks. Chris Wilmot (father of Alby and Quinnie Wilmot) has done a tremendous job in leading and coordinating this project. I am extremely grateful for Chris and the crew from Ripview Landscaping, who have volunteered their time and skills to make this project come to fruition. He and his team have done an outstanding job so far, and I encourage families to show their appreciation and support to Chris when you see him around school or in the community. Thank you Chris!
Book and Stationery Packs and Voluntary Contributions 2025
Parents and families received information regarding the 2025 Parent Payments for stationery, curriculum and other contributions to our school. Notes were distributed and information was provided via a Compass notification, including a video presentation explaining how to access the WINC portal.
To access information regarding our School’s Parent Payments for 2025, families can visit our school website using the link below.
Parent Payment Information 2025
To review the video presentation explaining how to access the WINC portal please use the link below.
Parent Payment Video Presentation
Students will be required to bring their book and stationery supplies to school on the first day of school in 2025. Students may wish to label their books with their name and class. We ask that all stationery items are not to be labelled with individual student names. WINC are offering free delivery of your child’s stationery packs if orders are placed by 6 December 2024.
School Saving Bonus
Families will have received an email from for the School Saving Bonus last week on Tuesday 26 November, Wednesday 27 November and Thursday 28 November. The email included the School Saving Bonus code that parents will require to access the online portal. If you have more than one child at our school, you would have received separate emails for each child over the course of the three days.
Families are to access the School Saving Bonus portal by clicking the link below.
Families are encouraged to refer to the Parents and Carers Portal Guide. This guide provides step by step instructions on how to access the portal and how to allocate $400 to uniforms or school activities.
The $400 vouchers are a one-way nomination, so if the family allocated the full $400 towards an item, it cannot be undone. Any unspent voucher money will be transferred to the family’s account at our school after the 30 June 2025. All School Saving Bonus related concerns, questions or issues parents have are to be communicated through the SSB Helpdesk, not through our school directly. Parents can seek support from the SSB Helpdesk by completing the form below.
End of Year Picnic
Our school is hosting an End of Year Picnic and Concert on Friday 6 December from 5pm until 7pm on the school oval. Families are invited to attend and bring along a rug and picnic supplies, including food/snacks and beverages to enjoy the evening. Throughout the afternoon, students will be performing musical and dance numbers to celebrate the end of a fantastic school year. We hope to see you there.
End of Year Class Celebrations and Final Day
Parents will receive information this week regarding class end of year celebrations. Classes will host end of year celebrations on the last day of school on Thursday 19 December. Students will be invited to bring in a plate of food to contribute to their class’ celebration. On Thursday 19 December, school will conclude at 1:00pm. After school care will not be provided on this day.
Final Assembly for 2024
Parents, carers and friends are invited to attend our final assembly for 2024 on Friday 13 December. At this assembly, special awards will be presented to students from each class including an Excellence Award, Endeavour Award and Citizenship Award. In addition to this, we will farewell our Year 6 students and they will be presented with bursaries and awards for their contributions to our school. The Final Assembly will be an opportunity for our school to farewell families who are concluding their learning journey with us in 2024, as their youngest graduates from Year 6. Our School Leaders and House Leaders for 2025 will be announced at the assembly. The Final Assembly will commence at 9am on the basketball courts.
Semester 2 Reports
Families will receive their child’s Semester 2 School Report on Wednesday 18 December via Compass.
School Council
Our final School Council meeting for 2024 will be held on Wednesday 4 December 2024. I look forward to meeting with our School Council members to finalise end of year operations and planning for 2025, and to celebrate their contributions and support in 2024.
Assembly
Our next assembly will be held in Week 9 on Friday 6 December at 9am. Parents, carers and friends are invited to join us for this celebration.
Nyatne baa Gobata
(Thank you and take care)
Mat McRae
Principal
