Term 1

Wednesday 25^th February - No school for Foundation students

Friday 27^th  February – Division Swimming Sports Waves

Monday 2^nd – 4^th March- MTB Thredbo

Monday 9^th March-  Labour Day Public Holiday

Wednesday 18^th  March – Regional Swimming Sports Wangaratta

Friday 20^th March- Folk Festival Parade 6pm

Sunday 22^nd March – Folk Festival Market

Wednesday 1^st April – House Cross Country

Thursday 2^nd April -  Cross Country – Back Up Day

Thursday 2^nd April – Last Day of Term 1

Friday 3^rd April- Good Friday Public Holiday

We’ve had another busy week of learning and sharing in fair and respectful play. Wellsford House enjoyed their 5mins extra break time for winning the Yack Cup last Friday. Each Friday, the coloured house with the most Yak tokens wins the special cup at assembly. But something new is in town this year and the winning house also wins 5mins of extra break time! Extra break time is always a hit — unless you’re a teacher on yard duty! The Yak token is a little square slip of paper that staff give to students who are demonstrating the school values. See the image below.

I wonder which house will win this week?

District Swimming

Yackandandah Primary made a fantastic splash at the Beechworth District Swimming Carnival, with our students showing some truly strong swimming across the day. Even more impressive was the way they embodied our school values — being fair and respectful learners while cheering each other on with wonderful team spirit and inclusivity. A big thank you to Robyn, Lauren and Emma for taking the group and supporting our swimmers — we’re very proud of the way our team represented Yack! 

Parking

Just a reminder to families that the small section of parking on Wellsford St in between the two large trees is a 2 minute drop off zone. This section gives families the opportunity to find a park quickly at drop off and pick up. If you’re planning on getting out of the car and heading into school grounds, we kindly ask that you find a parking spot in other sections along Wellsford St, Hammond St or on High St. Thank you. 

Folk Festival

I can’t quite believe we’re talking about the festival again — has it really been a year already? Well, almost! Our Art and Music teachers, Mandy, Caz and Miriam, have already been busy preparing for our school’s participation in the Folk Festival parade. Please stay tuned to their sections in the newsletter over the coming weeks for more information and updates.

Our school is heavily involved in the festival across the weekend in so many different ways. It is also our biggest fundraiser for the year, with the community dinner on the Saturday night and market stalls on Sunday. In the coming weeks, help roster sheets will be sent out to families. If you’re able to give your time in any way, we would greatly appreciate you adding your name to the roster. That Yack team spirit — everyone pitching in however they can — is what makes this school community such a wonderful one to be part of. 

Have fun this weekend, doing things you love with those you love.

Stace Hogan
Acting Principal

This week:  Isla Cleverley and Taidhg James Hillier

Next Week: Claudia Grech and Thomas Killen

Congratulations to all our award recipients.

WE ARE FAIR

Frankie Kelly, for working, helping and playing with all his classmates. Well done!

Freddie Boucher, for showing kindness and empathy by helping your classmates out on the playground.

Alfie Boucher, for displaying kindness and support to a classmate in the playground.

WE ARE LEARNERS

Max Boschetti, for using impressive descriptive language to vividly describe a character and bring them to life for the reader.

Kleo Schlup – Carson, for explaining the feelings Herbert and Harry had in the story. A thoughtful and wonderful response.  

Heidi Dobrautz, for always listening attentively and showing a strong eagerness to learn and apply new skills in game situations.

Rory McIntyre, for demonstrating excellent leadership and teamwork by helping to organise strategic tactics against opponents during this week’s invasion games.

Amelia Muth, for beginning Year One with a focused and dedicated attitude to all learning tasks! Great work, Amelia!

Neve Allan, for always being calm, quiet, and focused in the classroom and doing her best effort the first time and every time.

Dylan Hewitt, for demonstrating the Value of Learning by bringing a focused approach to mathematics and demonstrating creativity in his approaches to challenging tasks

WE SHOW RESPECT

Kinu Edwardes, for consistently showing respect by listening attentively to others and thoughtfully contributing to class discussions.

Maisie Smith, for always being focused and ready for each task and listening respectfully to your teachers and classmates. 

Georgia Cleverley, for demonstrating the Value of Respect by following class expectations during our drama lessons to help deepen our shared understanding of key characters

Jake Blair,  for always being respectful of others in the class through his actions and words –a great role model for other learners

This week's Hot Lunch was Sausage/Veggie Rolls.     

This is one of the most popular lunches for the term, and a great way to round out the week :) We make just over 400 mini-Sausage and Veggie Rolls from scratch for this Hot Lunch, and they are all gone in 15 minutes!

There is now a spare volunteer spot next Friday Feb 27 on BLT/MLT Roll day. Please reach out if you would like to be the kitchen boss for the day. (All groceries and instructions will be prepped and provided!)

In Art this week, some students started their geli-plate Mary Blair inspired designs and printed. Thank you to those families who have donated a black or white t-shirt to the Art room! We did have some early fabric paint mishaps, with the paint drying super fast on the geli-plate in this warmer weather. I have purchased some more t-shirts for those students who bravely went first when we started the printing process on Monday! Exciting times in the art space!!  

Save the Date: Folk Festival Fairytale Opening Street Parade
6:00pm Friday 2oth March 2026

FREE professional face painting will be available at the Rotunda in the Memorial Gardens for parade participants ONLY. After 5:45pm, FREE face painting will be available to all children.

Artworks in progress

Yackandandah Folk Festival 2026: Friday 20^th March until Sunday 22^nd March.

Hoping you are all getting excited about the Festival and YPS Sunday Market!

Road closure information:

3pm Friday: High Street will be closed between Wellsford and William Street.

4.30pm Friday until 6pm Sunday: High Street from Bells Flat Road to Williams Street.

6am Sunday until 6pm Sunday: Wellsford Street: Hammond Street to Windham Street. (YPS Market)

Please assist our wonderful Festival and School volunteers who are setting up these streets by not leaving your vehicles in High Street on Friday or Wellsford Street on Saturday night.

A FRIENDLY COMMUNITY ANNOUNCEMENT FROM THE FOLK FESTIVAL'S GREEN TEAM

At the Yackandandah Folk Festival, we’re very proud of our environmental credentials. 

Every year we aim to minimise and manage our waste better than ever - especially so-called ‘disposable’ food containers – these are the ones that are used for a few minutes and then thrown away… forever!

Trouble is .. there is really no ‘away’ when it comes to our environment.  Although they often look brown and kind of organic, many of them have nasty chemicals in them and have to go into landfill. As for plastic... well, that lasts for hundreds of years.

So this year, we have our famous Dish Pig again – with our fantastic Green Team volunteers delivering re-usable bowls and plates to food stalls and then collecting and washing them to use over and over.

PLEASE support the wonderful food stalls who are happy to be part of this arrangement. They are our DISH PIG CHAMPIONS!

And PLEASE leave your reusable bowls and plates and cutlery at the collection points dotted around the festival so they can be collected and washed. 

You can also bring your own crockery and cups of course - and remember your water bottles. We will have water points at the school and in the High Street where you can fill them up all day, for free.

Finally, keep an eye out for our Bin Fairies. You can't really miss them! They are there to help you with choosing the right bin for your waste. We know it can sometimes  be confusing because there are so many products - but every right choice will help our team - and the future environment for our kids growing up today.

District Swimming Carnival Wrap Up & Division Swimming Carnival

Congratulations to the 31 swimmers who represented our school at the Beechworth & District Swimming Carnival held yesterday at the Beechworth Pool. It was fantastic to see so many outstanding individual and team performances throughout the day.

We are proud to announce that 29 students have qualified to compete at the Division Swimming Carnival.

The Division Carnival will be held at Wodonga Waves in Wodonga on Friday 27 February, commencing at 10:00am. I will formally notify students of their individual results once they are received (early next week) and will arrange a meeting with all qualifying students shortly after.

Well done again to all competitors on your excellent efforts and sportsmanship.

OSHC Contact Details

To ensure smooth communication with our OSHC service, please see our updated contact details below:

OSHC Mobile: 0437 496 731
OSHC Email: yack.ps.oshc@outlook.com

Coordinator: Briana
Coordinator Email: briana.wingard@education.vic.gov.au

Please note that under new regulations, OSHC staff are not permitted to have personal mobile phones on them during sessions. For this reason, it is very important that families contact the OSHC mobile number listed above during program hours, rather than personal devices.