On Sunday 2nd April, Felixstow Foodland held a BBQ Fundraiser for our school. We would like to thank Felixstow Foodland for organising this event and our families and staff who helped out at the BBQ or came along and bought a sausage or two! We are delighted to say that $747.70 was raised from the BBQ for our refrigerated drinking fountain.
Dear families & friends,
The year has started well, with minimum disruptions to programs this year we have been able to get straight into it! Our inquiry this term, ‘The diversity of Australia is expressed through traditions’, has a strong focus on knowing our own and each other’s traditions and will culminate in our learning expo and combined Harmony Day celebrations on Thursday 13th April. We hope to see many families there to celebrate with us.
NAPLAN
Congratulations to all our year 3 and 5 students who have completed NAPLAN. It was run earlier this year (usually in term 2) and will continue to be held in Term 1 from now on. While it was disruptive to programs, it is good that we have now completed it and we can move on with our learning. We were very proud of the attitude and persistence that students demonstrated throughout the NAPLAN assessments.
Volunteering
We have had a great response to our recent volunteering drive. Di has been methodically working through the processes needed to get people ready as soon as we can. By the beginning of term 2 we should have a solid pool of volunteers ready to get started on some programs. We will be starting with the morning reading program and the volunteer morning teas (1st week of each month). Feedback told us that varying the days for morning teas may work better so we will work out dates and then advertise these. Each morning tea will be focused on catching up with other parents and then some sort of activity to help out around the school eg making resources for classes, covering books, gardening etc. If you are interested in volunteering please speak with Gillian or Di.
Road Safety and Parking
The Governing Council and staff have been continuing to work with council, SAPol and the Way to Go program to investigate ways to improve the safety on the roads near our school. Our petition has been sent in to council and this week we have the local council members visiting to talk to us about our ongoing concerns and to see the area and issues for themselves. SApol have advised they will be regularly monitoring the area particularly for speed and/or parking violations.
It is vital that the members of our community are doing the right thing when driving and parking near the school to ensure the safety of our children.
Some reminders:
- Please DO NOT use the drop off zone for parking, children must be able to enter and exit the car INDEPENDENTLY with out any need for the adults to get out of their car.
- In the drop off zone children should get out of the car on the passenger side (ie not on the driveway side)
- In the drop off zone your child should not exit the car until you are a maximum of 2 cars away from the gate near the OSHC kitchen, move your car down the line to drop off or pick up
- In the drop off zone children should not walk down the driveway or enter/exit via the main double driveway gate when walking
- If children are not able to enter and exit your car independently please park on the street or at the back of the school (Off Turner St) so students can safely enter the school via the front or oval gate.
- Make sure you are observing the 25km per hour speed limits along Briar Rd
- Where possible pick up and drop off children on the school side of Briar Rd
- Hold your child’s hand if needing to cross the road (especially our littlies)
- Support your child by reminding them of safe road practices including crossing the road safely, walking on footpaths, wearing safety gear when riding bikes or scooters.
Thank you for your support, we are hoping to see some action from our local services but in the mean time it is important we are modelling and teaching our kids how to keep safe near our roads.
Illnesses
We have had some increasing illnesses at school both staff and students. A reminder that if your child is feeling unwell that they should stay home until they do not have any symptoms. If they are displaying COVID symptoms they must be tested and if positive the school must be notified.
School Sports
A big thank you to Emma who has been working with students and families across both schools she works with to give our students the opportunity to play team sports.
Congratulations to our our combined 'Felixstow-Paradise' cricket team, who have made a great start to their first ever cricket experience. Thank you to the families who have volunteered to support by coaching, managing, and helping out on game days.
We have had some interest in other sports as well and will be reliant on parent volunteers to make this happen for students. Keep an eye out for expression of interest forms for different sports if your child has told us they are interested.
We are looking forward to seeing everyone at our upcoming Learning Expo to celebrate the end of Term 1!