Welcome back for the final term of learning for 2023. I’m looking forward to continuing the learning journey from Term Three, and ultimately celebrating a great year towards the end of December. As always, I would like to emphasise the importance of positive work habits and attitudes. These are far more important than a theoretical score on a test or a report – particularly for primary school and early secondary school children. I encourage families to value persistence, organisation, and the ability to see challenging learning situations as opportunities rather than problems.

Michael Edwards
Principal

Family Statements
During the last week of Term 3 family statements were sent home to families.  Prompt payment of any outstanding amounts would be greatly appreciated.

2023 Voluntary Contributions
If you haven’t yet paid the 2023 Voluntary Contributions a summary of the suggested contributions is below. Thank you to all the families who have already paid.

Yackandandah Primary School rely on these financial contributions to assist us with the purchasing of art, music and physical education equipment and resources, which in turn, supports us in offering specialist French, Music and Art classes.  These contributions also enable us to enrich learning as well as provide camps and excursions for students.

Due to Department guidelines, we are unable to show the Curriculum contributions on the family statements until after they are paid.

When paying please ensure you put your name and 2023 contributions in the reference.

Enjoy your week!
Sandra

Harriet Brinsdon & Fredi Farley

Finch Hughes for being a great partner during maths activities and taking on new challenges with confidence. 
Billie May for being an outstanding fielder during our T-ball games for the past two weeks.
Audrey Wyatt for your fantastic work ethic and consistent enthusiasm for learning.
Wesley Paull for going out of your way to make someone else’s day. Thanks for your kindness, Wesley!
Lillian Pretty for great improvement in identifying letters and their sounds.
Jono Shepherd for making improvements to his writing by ensuring capital letters and full stops were correct before publishing.
Joni Mayhew for including others and having a positive attitude during PE.
Cooper Wall for being a supportive, encouraging member of your team during PE.
Lara Harders for participating in games fairly, confidently and with a smile on your face!
Sierra Allan for demonstrating wonderful patience with the technology in class this week.
Billie McInerney for being a helpful and supportive member of class.

Welcome to the Term 4 Hot Lunch Menu!

A 'Hot Lunch' option is offered to students on Fridays from week 2 onwards during the school term. 

The lunch is served at 11 am and includes an individually served hot meal and fruit platter to share.

Each Hot Lunch meal costs $5.

Parents, carers and senior students volunteer their time (Friday's 9am-11:30am) to collect ingredients, prepare, cook and serve the hot meal. The meals are delivered to the classroom, where the class teacher will hand them out to the students that have ordered them.  

We have some delicious Hot Lunches on the menu for Term 4!

If you would like to make an order, please use the link below to complete a separate Google form for each student by 6pm MON 9th Oct 2023.

**We do our best to cater for students with special dietary needs. Please indicate these on the order form**

We also need and welcome kitchen helpers, so please indicate on the form if you are able to assist. No experience needed, we love to have new faces in the kitchen! 

T4 Hot Lunch Order Form - 

https://forms.gle/6bDqMNF6EmPYuEK86

Hannah Glanville-Jones\
YPS Hot Lunch Coordinator
ypshotlunch@gmail.com

Division Athletics
The Upper Hume Division Athletics are taking place this Friday, October 6, at the Les O’Brien Athletics Track in Albury. We will be taking a bus to this event. Permission forms (and further information, including a timetable) have already been sent home. The bus will be leaving at 8.45am (after bus travellers arrive).  The cost is $10 and needs to be paid prior to the event.

Unfortunately, the Division Athletics does clash with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra excursion. Unless told otherwise by parents and carers, we are assuming that students in Year 3/4 who have qualified for Division, will be attending the athletics and not the MSO excursion.

School Sport Victoria Selection Trials
Last Term Spencer Dowsley tried out for the 800m and 1500m state team.  Spencer ran very will placing 7^th overall in the 800m with a four second PB of 2:37:25. He then battled through a stitch in the 1500m to place 14^th overall.  To be placed in the top 10 at state level is a huge achievement.  Congratulations Spencer.

Students in the senior choir will perform as part of the Arts Yackandandah Community Singalong on Sunday 22nd October. A number of students still need to return forms to indicate availability. Please return to Sandra ASAP. Spare copies are in my pigeon hole. All classes and choirs will be busily preparing items for the school concert on Thursday 9th November.

Both the junior and senior choirs are invited to perform at the Yackandandah community carols on Wednesday 13 December. Full details to be advised. Please save the date.

I am very much looking forward to taking our years F-4 classes to the Wangaratta Performing Arts Centre this Friday 6 October to hear the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. We have a few tickets set aside for potential parent helpers who may be available to accompany us. Please advise either myself or your child's class teacher if you are interested.

David Pietsch
David.Pietsch@education.vic.gov.au

The end of Term Three saw all the students in Years 3 and 4 head off to 15 Mile Creek camp for four days of adventure while taking part in the Challenge and Grow curriculum. The students in 3/4E and 4L went together in week 9 and 3/4A had their turn in the final week of term. Students were able to participate in a range of activities including a creek walk, rock climbing, ziplining, bike riding, camping out in a tent, orienteering, and bush walking. The aim of the camp was to assist students to build their “toolkit” of strategies to use when faced with challenges. As a teacher, it was a pleasure to work alongside the high-quality camp staff and see students build their independence and resilience throughout our time away. As you can see from the photos, memories were formed that will last a lifetime!

A big THANK YOU is due to our parent helpers - Paul, Shelby, and Natasha, plus staff attendees – Angie, Earle, Shireen and Michael. Without our volunteers, camps are something our students would not be able to partake in.

The Victorian Mountain Bike Interschools are scheduled for Friday 1^st March 2024 at Falls Creek, immediately followed by the Australian Interschools from Monday 4^th March at Thredbo.

It’s likely the Vic Interschool Competition will be similar to 2022 with a single XCO style race (TBC). Registrations are not yet open.

The Australian Interschools incorporate a variety of disciplines including downhill, all mountain, flow, XCO and pump track. Registrations are due to open in November. 

Australian MTB Interschools | 4 - 8 March | Thredbo MTB Park, NSW

At this stage we believe entry divisions for both events will be from Year 3 onwards (TBC). 

Both events will be parent/carer-led, with parents/carers responsible for entry fees, equipment, supervision, transport and accommodation expenses.

A minimum level of skill and experience is required to participate in these events.

If your child is interested in competing in either event, please register your interest with Brendan. This will enable us to connect you with other families planning to attend.

This Vacation Care was EPIC!

WEEK 1

• Our first week started off with CRAZY science day which allowed the children to get messy, experiment and most of all have fun.
• Pirate day saw our buccaneers hunt for their buried treasure, join in on great games and set tasks, and enjoy the facepainting which led to some creative characters in OSHC.
• Cinema excursion let us out of the school grounds and into Albury, the children watched Teenage Kraken while enjoying their popcorn and drink. 
• Wheels day, well what a day! The children of Yack really do love their bike riding, we set off to Butson Park where we enjoyed riding games, activities and a picnic lunch. Rory was our champion rider with 43 laps of the football oval, WELL DONE RORY!
• We ended our week with a hot lunch down at our local Gum Tree Pies café. The children loved being able to have a hot lunch and being amongst the community, spotting many people and family along the street.

WEEK 2

• Cooking day is something the children have always loved and Monday was no exception, we baked cupcakes during our morning session which the children were able to decorate, and for lunch we made Taco’s.
• BEAT THAT TOURNAMENT! This was an amazing day full of different challenges set out for the children to complete. They enjoyed testing their skills, patience and also supporting and encouraging each other over the day. Our first place BEAT THAT CHAMP – Richie Runners up – Frey and the encouragement of the day award for supporting everyone, cheering and encouraging - Patrick.
• Excursion to Sir Isaac Isaacs Park, we were concerned about a slight chance of rain however this day was BEAUTIFUL! We ventured up to the park and were able to play, run around, Parkour, climb and play group games. The children have enjoyed our extra outings over this holiday break.
• Our last day for the holidays ended with our local CFA coming to visit. The children were able to get up close to the truck, learning about the safety features, what things are used for, different truck uses. They joined in some games lead by the firefighters, were able to ask many questions and were also lucky enough to hear the siren.

 We will be incorporating more of our wonderful community and surrounds in our programs, so thank you to the community that supported our program to happen.

A HUGE thank you to our staff, without each and everyone of them we wouldn’t be able to run such a wonderful program.

Kerryn

16^th September – Charlotte Wilson

20^th September – Dara Freeman

22^nd September – Will Boddenberg

23^rd September – James Davis

23rd September – Willow Anderson

23rd September – Cameron McIntosh

24th September – Owen Overall

25th September – Zoe Blair

26th September – Tom Murphy

27th September – Lincoln Clausen

28th September – Amelia McNicol

30^th September – Finch Hughes

30th September – Jake Blair

1^st October – Jaxson Cameron