Tuesday 31^st May                                 Yr. 3/4 Flora Session 12-2pm
Friday 3^rd June                                       Division Cross Country
Monday 13^th June                               Queen’s Birthday Public Holiday
Tuesday 14^th June                               Pupil Free Day
Friday 17^th June                                    Regional Cross Country
Thursday 23^rd June                              Yr. 3/4 Planting Day at Yack Creek
Friday 24^th June                                    Yr. 1/2 The Lion King Excursion at Albury Entertainment Centre
Friday 24^th June                                   Last Day Term 2
Monday 11^th July                                First day Term 3
Friday 15^th July                                     Winter Sports Carnival (Years 3-6)
Tues 9^th Aug – Wed 10^th Aug             Year 5/6 Sovereign Hill Camp
Wed10^th August-Fri 12^th August       Year 3/4 Melbourne Camp
Thursday 25^th August                         School Athletics Carnival
Monday 29^th Aug-Friday 2^nd Sept    Wodonga Arts Festival
Monday 29^th Aug – Friday 9^th Sept  School Swimming Program
Wednesday 7^th September               District Athletics
Friday 16^th September                       Last Day Term 3
Monday 3^rd October                          First day Term 4
Friday 7^th October                              Division Athletics
Friday 14^th October                             Regional Athletics
Wednesday 19^th October                  Circular Circus Cultural Performance
Tuesday 1^st November                       Melbourne Cup Public Holiday
Friday 18^th November                        Kanga 8’s
Monday Nov 21^st                                School Swimming Program
Friday 25^th November                        Kanga 6’s Cricket Carnival (Yrs 3–6)
Tuesday 20^th December                     Last Day Term 4

This morning students, teachers and parent helpers boarded buses to head off to the Shepparton Art excursion. Well done Sarah for organising this terrific opportunity. Thanks to the parent helpers for lending a hand. I’m sure the students will have an interesting and enjoyable learning experience.

This week local government schools have invited prospective families to visit in preparation for 2023 Foundation enrolment and transition. If you know of any families who are enrolling children for 2023, please let them know they can visit us any time – or call ahead to ensure someone is available to help with a guided tour.

Huge thanks to students and parents who helped assembly new outdoor furniture after assembly last Friday. The furniture is under the new shade shelter on the Hammond St side of the school. Parents are welcome to use the furniture as they wait for children to be dismissed from class at the end of the day.

Covid is still a thing – and colds and flu are still lurking about. We appreciate the notifications from parents when children test positive for covid, or have a cold. We have plenty of RATs at school, feel free to collect as many as you need.

Mandy Labram has begun some long service leave. We wish her a restful break until her return in late August. In the meantime, we are lucky to have Kerri Murrell take up Mandy’s Art and French duties. Thanks Kerri.

It is a common story at the moment, but we are short staffed in out OSHC service. We are doing our best to keep the service operating (including after kinder care) but it is possible we may need to reduce what we can offer if staff cannot be found. At this stage it is looking unlikely that we will be able to run vacation care over the next holidays. We will make that decision in the next week or two. If you know of anyone who may be interested in some OSHC/Vacation Care work, please point them in our direction. If you are a regular user of Vacation Care, be aware that we may not be able to run this service during the next school holidays. There could well be other vacation care services you could access, but these will be in demand – which is why I am giving you early notice.

Michael Edwards

Principal

Victorian Primary School Nursing Program

School Nursing Program Information Envelopes were sent home to foundation families last week. Please complete the Health Questionnaire and return to school by this Wednesday 25^th May.

If you do not consent to the health assessment please tick the appropriate box and return the form to school.

Imogen Rolfe & Angus M’Crystal

Lenny Jones for always being an enthusiastic and hardworking student
Willow Anderson for always being an organised and hardworking student
Will Maybury for being organised and hardworking member of his science team
Pippa Graham for taking on and responding to feedback to improve her Lion’s Club speech draft
Will Black for making clever connections in his learning and sharing thoughtful ideas during class discussions. You’re a winner, Will!
Ruby Hewitt for being a terrific team member during Science investigations and leading the way with a positive attitude. Way to go, Ruby!
Frey Holden for working hard during Writer’s Workshop to produce quality detailed writing to inform your audience
Mim Martini for writing detailed responses in Writer’s Workshop, using adjectives and descriptions
Jack McAlister for your keen enthusiasm in writing lots of facts about your pony Maple during Writer’s Workshop this week
Dara Freeman for developing a great understanding of two-digit numbers during out place value unit of work
Jim MacCalman for confidently contributing to group discussions and helping others learn
Aiden Hillier for his great improvement when learning how to tell time on an analogue clock

Happy Hamburger week! Meat patties are supplied by our local butcher, CC's quality meats, and cooked to perfection by our kitchen helpers. The burger will have lettuce, tomato and a slice of cheese, with tomato sauce delivered to the classroom for the students to apply if they like.

Please send through your hot lunch payments for this term, so the orders can be checked off as paid.

Flora Excursion to the Yackandandah Sports Park Precinct

Last Tuesday 17^th May, around 60 students from years 3 and 4 walked down to the Yackandandah Sports Park to take part in a series of workshops related to this term’s science unit, “Home Among the Gum Trees”. Local experts, Karen Retra and Nigel Jones, along with teacher and tree enthusiast, Angie, took the sessions. Karen assisted students to identify different plant species and discussed how citizen science works along with data logging of local species. Nigel has extensive knowledge of local plants and sent students off on a hunt for specific native and weed species. It was interesting to learn about our “best local bush tucker”, the apple berry, which I am told tastes a lot like an apricot. Angie had students taking photos of different eucalypt species with iPads and learning about what makes a gum tree compared to other eucalypt species. A big thanks go to our parent helpers, Matt Charles-Jones, Jane Murphy, Sinead Mahoney and Hannah Jones. Without parent support, these types of experiences would not be possible.

Our next excursion will focus on local fauna and is booked in for the 31^st May. We will also hold a planting day on Thursday 23^rd June.

We have been fortunate enough to have this unit of study supported through a substantial grant through Junior Landcare (https://juniorlandcare.org.au/).

Mish Croker was instrumental in winning this grant for the school. This grant money has been used to purchase an iPad, 15 digital microscopes, watering cans, gardening gloves, plants for a planned planting day as well as support the delivery of education outcomes. I’m sure that the grant’s goals for bringing sustainability into the classroom and increasing engagement and care for the local environment will be achieved by the end of this unit of study.

23^rd May – Percy Gosling
23^rd May – Ted Attwood
25^th May – Bonnie McLeod
26^th May – Bella Sommerville

This week in OSHC, the children and educators have been going outside and enjoying the sunshine as much as possible! There have been some cold mornings and evenings, but we don’t let that ruin our fun outside. The children have been engaging in different group games, this is to allow the children to expand their communication skills and sportsmen ship.

When we are inside the children have been creating their very own OSHC Record Book. This has encouraged the children to step out of their comfort zones and try something new. All attempts have been recorded so no one misses out.

Coordinator Role
Unfortunately our current coordinator Felicity is moving away. Her last day will be the 9^th of June. This means that the Yackandandah Primary School OSHC are looking for a new Coordinator. If you, or someone you know, is Diploma qualified and is interested in the position, please enquire within the school. We are also looking for educators to help the OSHC run smoothly. Educators will need at least a Cert III in Early childhood education and learning or equivalent.

Thanks, OSHC Team

Calling all basketballers!!
We are looking for new players to join our social basketball night at the Yack Stadium, at the Sporks Park Precinct. Male and female players and all skill levels welcome! We currently have players from teens to the, erm, not-so-young (but young at heart) coming together every Tuesday night 7:30-8:30pm for a fun, friendly game of b’ball.

First time is free! For regulars, it's $5-$8, depending on numbers.

Contact: Alex 0412945229 or join the open Facebook page Indigo Social Sports and look for the ‘Tuesday night basketball events’.