Last Saturday, we held our annual Nature Playground Busy Bee to celebrate the first day of spring and the reopening of our Tiny Town cubby zone. 

Our many thanks go to the parents who came along and worked together with staff to achieve such a fantastic result for our children. Thank you to wonderful parents Lee Ting, Becky Dunn, Rachel Murray, Shell Hayman and Adam Delaney for generously giving up their time on a Saturday morning to help us re-paint all the timber in the playground. Thank you also to their fabulous children including former student Tahlia Murray who helped out whilst also serving her community as part of her High School Community Service commitments, Aiden and Henry Dunn who did an awesome job and Connor and Phoebe Delaney as well.   Special thanks also go to our dedicated staff  who form our Early Childhood Education committee, Ash Verbickis, Nerida Clark, Danielle Lees and Brittany Woodfin for coming in on Saturday and working alongside the parents and kids to paint, add stimulating new features to the playground and carry out general maintenance to keep the playground in tip top condition.

With the re-opening of Tiny Town, our cubby master, Craig, has refitted new hinges and latches as well for some heavy duty play. Thank you Craig. You are a champion! I am sure that our students, big and small, are going to love having the cubby space open again for creative and social play.

We are very lucky to have such a beautiful and wondrous nature space in our school and such committed staff, parents and kids who are willing to help out to keep it so. Visitors to the playground will also note the recent addition and completion of the new Arc Tunnel and roof which presents an exciting new climbing and playing challenge for our kids.

Our playground needs to be well cared for so it lasts for many years to come. It is certainly not an easy task to undertake, so once again, many thanks to all of our special helpers who joined us on the day.

98.5 Sonshine FM and Fume Free Friday!

Don’t forget the excitement that is “brewing” around our live radio broadcast in conjunction with 98.5 Sonshine FM  tomorrow morning Friday, September 7!

Hosts Kirstie and Morro will be heading to Aubin Grove and and you are all invited to come along to school from 8:00to come to school to enjoy the fun from the live broadcast. We will all get to see how a live radio broadcast works and some of our very own Aubin Grove people, including students of course will be guests on the show.

We will also get a visit from the RugbyRoo’s, The Entertainment Bank and of course, we have free coffee for all of our adults! The kids won’t miss out on a free drink either because tomorrow is also Fume Free Friday, so start the day by walking, riding or scooting to school and bring along your own mug and receive a cup of milo. There will be spare disposable cups available too if you forget your own cup.

It is going to be a fantastic morning being able to showcase our amazing school and to start our day in such an exciting, novel and educative way. We look forward to seeing you there! If you can’t make it, tune in to 98.5 and listen to the show!

SMS Messaging for Absences

Thank you to everyone who has been replying promptly to our SMSs when your child is absent from school, without an explanation. It is compulsory for parents to supply an explanation for any absence, no matter whether its only one day, and we hope that this system helps you to remember that. We are very happy with the way the system is working after the initial system-wide fault which delayed its implementation and we hope that it is making things a little more convenient for you.

If you have any feedback you’d like to provide to help us improve the system, I’d be happy for you to let me know.

Bushfire Response Plan and Emergency Management Planning

Last Friday we conducted an evacuation practice as part of our Emergency Management Plan (EMP). We practised a “bomb threat” drill that required all staff and students to respond in accordance with our EMP. We have previously contracted a private consultancy company to help us develop our EMP and a consultant from the company acted as an observer during the drill to evaluate the effectiveness of our response and to provide feedback that will be used to enhance our plan and improve our response in future.

We regularly practise a range of evacuations, ranging from bombs, fire, earthquakes and gas leaks and other hazardous materials. We also include lock down practices as part of our cycle of drills.

We also have a Bushfire Response Plan (BRP). Aubin Grove PS has been issued with a Category 2 rating and our BRP is developed in line with the requirements of this rating.

A copy of our BRP is situated on our school website for you to read and become familiar with, should you wish to do so. At the very least, you can be assured that our BRP is well developed and detailed and enables us to be well prepared in the event that it is required.

Later today you will receive a separate email which will alert you to our BRP and provide the link to our website where it is located. The plan is updated at this time each year as we enter spring and the hot summer months ahead.

Open Night

Please set aside the evening of Wednesday, September 19 so you can come to school and attend our annual Open Night from 5:30-7:00pm. This evening is an exciting time for students and staff who look forward to showing you the amazing work they have been doing during the learning journey they have been on throughout this year.

Our Open Night philosophy is that it should enable you to see what really goes on in classrooms, the real, day-to-day work done by students and teachers and not just “highly polished” works of art that aren’t truly representative of the standards achieved by the students. Having said that, I know that you will see many wonderful examples of work that will demonstrate the progress and achievement made by your child over the course of the year so far and will be impressed with the quality of the work you see across the entire school.

All classrooms, the Library and Art, Music and Japanese rooms will be open for you to walk though and view. There will also be musical items and art displays for you to enjoy.  Please feel free to wander around the school after you have visited your own child’s classroom to see all the other wonderful aspects of our great school.

My Long Service Leave

I will be taking some time away from school at the end of this term to help expend some accumulated Long Service Leave. I will be away in the last week of this term and the first week of Term Four. Mrs Steel will take on the role of Principal in my absence and I know that she, the Deputy Principals and the rest of the staff will all carry on so well in their usual outstanding way that you won’t even notice that I’m gone!

I will be resting up though in preparation for an exciting and busy last term of the year.

Don’t forget Fume Free Friday tomorrow and the Sonshine FM radio show from 8:00. See you there!