Term 3

Friday 18^th September – Last Day of Term 3, 2:30pm finish

Monday 21^st September to Friday 2^nd October – TheirCare Holiday Program

Term 4

Wednesday 7^th October – Hot Lunch Orders Close 4pm

Thursday 15^th October – 2027 Foundation 1^st Transition Day

Friday 16^th October - Hume Regional Athletics

Tuesday 20^th October – Pupil Free Day (Staff Professional Development)

Thursday 29^th October - 2027 Foundation 2^nd Transition Day

Wednesday 28^th October – BSC half day transition

Wednesday 28^th October – Hot Shots

Monday 2^nd November – Pupil Free Day (Curriculum Development)

Tuesday 3^rd November– Melbourne Cup Public Holiday

Monday 9^th November – Cultural Performance, Dance Magic

Thursday 12^th November - 2027 Foundation 3^rd Transition Day

Thursday 26^th November - 2027 Foundation 4^th  Transition Day

Wednesday 2^nd December – BSC information night 6-7pm

Thursday 3^rd December – School Concert

Monday 7^th – 9^th December – BSC 3 full-day transition

Tuesday 8^th December – Statewide Transition

Wednesday 16^th December – Year 6 Graduation

Thursday 17^th December – Year 6 Assembly

Friday 18^th December – Pupil Free Day (2027 Preparation)

Book Character Day
Congratulations to all the staff and students on a great book character dress up day! Apart from the incredible costumes I was impressed with how children connected with a wide variety of books and characters. Well done families on supporting your children to enjoy the day and well done kids and staff on getting into the spirit of the occasion. Thanks Stacey, Brendan & Mr Silver for making the morning so much fun for all of us!

Following the book character parade the students participated in art activities related to the current short-listed children’s books of the year. Thanks to Caz, Mandy and Sarah for making this happen.

State T-Ball
Yackandandah Primary School students took part in the State T-ball championship earlier this week. There are very few of us who could say that we have competed at a state level competition – amazing effort from the T-ball team! This could not have happened without the considerable support from the parents of the children who took part. We appreciate what you have done to help the kids be a part of the competition.

End of Term
The students have thoroughly earned the term break. I am a big believer in pausing to reflect on the learning progress at these times. Day to day it can be difficult to feel progress in learning, but when considering the term, the progress is clear to see. There is no secret to this success, it is maintaining the motivation and being present (in every sense of the word) every day. Well, done everyone!

Michael Edwards
Acting Principal

This week:  Maeve Van Duinen and Indigo Agnew

Next Term 1^st Week:   Sara Davison and Willis Hogg

Congratulations to all our award recipients.

WE ARE FAIR

Claudia Grech- for always being inclusive of others and bringing a positive energy to the classroom every day. 

Taj Dean -  For demonstrating fairness and sportsmanship while representing the school proudly at State Tee Ball, including the fantastic achievement of hitting a home run! 

Kaia Allan - For demonstrating outstanding sportsmanship and a positive attitude at yesterday’s Division Athletics Carnival. Kaia encouraged others, competed fairly and represented our school with pride. Well done, Kaia! 

Nellie Dowling - for sharing your ideas during whole class discussions and ensuring everyone gets a fair go by listening to others and waiting patiently for your turn.

WE ARE LEARNERS

Oscar Bullman - by showing courage, determination and perseverance during the rock-climbing challenge at camp. You took on each climb with confidence and ease. 

Grace Dowling - researching, publishing and illustrating an excellent information report on the Luna Moth. Well done.

Frankie Shegog-Dunne- showing a high level of enthusiasm with all learning tasks and telling me she loves our activities. It warms the cockles of a teacher's heart!

Joni Mayhew - For making the most of every opportunity at camp. You approached each activity with a positive attitude, got involved and were always willing to have a go.

Zaarib Alidina - for completing a strong semester of learning in Mathematics and Writing. Well done, Zaarib!

Nora Mayhew - researching, publishing and illustrating an excellent information report on the Red Panda. Well done. 

Lucille O’Keefe - for trying your best during small group activities and transferring the skills you learned there to the rest of your work. Keep it up!

Stella Hillier - for drawing clear diagrams to demonstrate your thinking and help you figure out the answer during maths activities.

WE SHOW RESPECT

Clyde Lucas - by embracing each opportunity with a positive attitude and helping make camp enjoyable for others while in Melbourne last week.

Hugo Dickeson - For the incredible job he does as School Captain. Hugo leads our school with calm, inspiring confidence, encourages others and is a wonderful role model. Well, done, Hugo! 

Isla Wallace - supporting her peers when learning about measurement. Both with informal and formal units.

Heidi Dobrautz-being a respectful partner during maths activities where you always listen and play the games to the rules

After many weeks of eliminations, and more than 100 competitors, the Junior School Council hosted the inaugural ‘Cornhole Cup’ at recess on Tuesday.

There were two finals (Junior and Senior). In the senior final, Mia defeated Renn, while in the Junior final, Connor defeated Hudson. Both were great games and a wonderful culmination of lots of recess fun provided by the very active Junior School Council. For those who missed out this year, hopefully the Cornhole Cup will return in 2027, bigger and better.

Last week our Year 3/4 students headed off to Urban Camp in Melbourne, and what a fantastic few days it was!

We were very lucky with the weather, which made everything just that little bit easier, and the students threw themselves into camp life with plenty of enthusiasm. A definite highlight was rock climbing at Social Fair, where students challenged themselves, encouraged one another and discovered that sometimes the hardest part is simply taking that first step off the ground.

There was plenty of fun back at camp too, with the games room proving very popular. We also enjoyed a visit to IMAX, where students learned more about the James Webb Telescope through the film experience — a great chance to mix a little science with the excitement of being on camp.

One of the most pleasing parts of the camp was seeing the growth in our students. They showed increasing independence, approached new experiences with a positive attitude and handled the many small challenges of being away from home really well. There were tired faces by the end, but also plenty of proud ones!

A huge thank you goes to our wonderful parent volunteers, Shelby and Emma, who somehow managed to maintain their enthusiasm from start to finish while providing such a high level of care and supervision for our students. Their support was very much appreciated.

We would also like to acknowledge Angie, who put many hours into organising the camp and making sure everything ran smoothly. Camps like this don’t just happen, and her hard work behind the scenes made a big difference.

WHAT A STORY!
Once upon a time… on the very last day of Term 3… Yackandandah Primary School was taken over by BOOK CHARACTERS!

What started as an ordinary Friday morning quickly turned into a spectacularly silly, wonderfully wacky and slightly chaotic celebration of all things BOOK WEEK!

Our morning featured a very special performance by the one and only Brendan - Script Writer Extraordinaire and Mastermind of Mayhem!

Guiding us through the madness was our fabulous narrator and amazing storyteller, Stacey, while the one and only Aaron - Mastermind, All-Time Boogie-Woogie Music Man and Musical Maestro  kept the tunes, dancing and general grooving well and truly alive!

And then… things took a VERY unexpected turn…

Enter the funky-dancing, gold-chain-wearing Pied Piper!

This was no ordinary Pied Piper. His mission? To save Yackandandah Primary School from an infestation Mice!!!

But, as we all know, saving a school is hard work… and apparently, it comes with a price!

The performance had everything funky dancing, music, storytelling, gold chains, ice creams, plenty of silliness and, of course, our wonderful students and teachers becoming part of the action.

Students from the audience were pulled into the performance, teachers were recruited into the madness, and there were plenty of laughs along the way. It was a hilarious, comical and wonderfully quirky performance that had everyone entertained from beginning to end!

AND THEN CAME THE PARADE!

Each class made their way to the front to proudly announce which wonderful book characters they had transformed into. And WOW, what a collection of characters we had!

A huge THANK YOU to all of our amazing families, children and staff for the incredible creativity, effort and imagination that went into the costumes. Our school was absolutely bursting with colour, creativity and characters from some of our most-loved books.

The school was saved, the students returned, the Pied Piper got paid… There is one Principal who is now considerably poorer in ice creams!... And everyone lived happily ever after!

THE END… until the next adventure!

The morning was also filled with arts, crafts and all things BOOK WEEK, with activities inspired by the current shortlisted Children’s Book of the Year books. Students had the opportunity to explore, create and celebrate the wonderful stories and illustrations from this year’s shortlisted books through a range of fun and creative activities. A HUGE THANK YOU to Caz and Mandy for organising such a wonderful, fun-filled and memorable last day of term.  

We had our BBQ Sausage Sizzle today to see out the last day of Term.

Our Hot Lunch Menu is LIVE on Compass, all orders close Wednesday 7^th October at 4pm.

Sign up to volunteer next term using the link below.

AUSKICK
Please see the attached AFL Auskick flyer in the Community notices section for interest in joining the Auskick program here at Yackandandah PS after school hours from 3:30pm-4:30pm on the oval.

DIVISION AND REGIONAL ATHLETICS
Congratulations to the 30 students who competed at the Division Athletics Carnival in Albury yesterday. It was a fantastic day, with lots of great individual results achieved.

Congratulations to the following students who have qualified to compete at Regionals:

Ari, Mia L, Tom M, Macey, Ned, Darcy, Kaia, Zack, Hugo, Willis and Isla C, as well as our 9/10 Girls Relay Team — Macey, Mia L, Dara and Darcy — and our 12/13 Boys Relay Team — Zack, Hugo, Willis and Will B.

The Regional Athletics Carnival will be held on Friday 16th October at the Les O’Brien Athletics Precinct.

For this event, families are responsible for getting their child to and from the carnival.

I have expressed interest in attending this event; therefore, I can take four students with me on the day. If there are other parents interested in driving students, please email Robyn W.

Good luck to all our Regional competitors!

STATE TEEBALL
On Wednesday 16th September, 12 students - Ben, Lincoln, Kayden, Ari, Cooper W, Taj, Ed, Felix, Toby, Harry, Josh and Hush travelled to Melbourne with their families to compete in the State Teeball Championships.

The team played fairly and respectfully and showed fantastic persistence throughout two challenging games. They competed against teams that were significantly larger and predominantly made up of senior students, making their efforts and determination even more impressive.

A huge thank you to all the parents who made the significant commitment to travel to Melbourne with their children and support them throughout the training sessions and competition.

A massive thank you to Faith Deans, who organised the training sessions and managed the team over the past few weeks and on the day. Your time, commitment and support were greatly appreciated.

It was an incredible effort from everyone involved and an amazing opportunity that the students will never forget!

DANCE
We’re beginning Term 4 by combining the Physical Education – Movement and Physical Activity strand with the Arts curriculum focus on Dance for the first three weeks of Term.

Dance is an inclusive and expressive art form that encourages students of all abilities to explore their creativity. Through dance, students will develop not only their movement skills, but also their confidence, teamwork, creativity and problem-solving abilities.

Students may choose to dance individually, work in pairs or collaborate in small groups to choreograph their own routines. There won’t be any dance battles this year. Instead, students will have the opportunity to perform their routines to their class during the three weeks of lessons.

To support creativity and choreography, students are encouraged to bring a bag of suitable items or clothing to wear during the three weeks of lessons.

Costume and accessory ideas include:

• Sweatbands or wristbands
• Headbands/scrunchies/ribbons
• Singlet (over a t-shirt)
• Dresses or skirts/tutus (over a t-shirt)
• Baggy pants, cargo pants, shorts or skorts
• Jackets, scarves
• Sneakers or similar footwear
• Fun hairstyles or hair accessories
• Wigs
• Ties or bow ties
• Fishnet gloves, leg warmers
• Sunglasses, caps
• Costume jewellery (non-precious)
• Pom poms, coloured scarves, ribbon sticks

If you have any dress ups, costumes etc that you are happy to donate to the program, I will happily add them to my collection.

Thanks so much for your continued support,

Robyn W

20^th September                    Dara

22^nd September                   Will

26^th September                    Tom   

27^th September                    Sunny

27^th September                   Lincoln

27^th  September                  Toby

27^th September                   Josie

28^th September                    Amelia

28^th September                   Gus

30^th September                   Jake

4^th October                           Frankie

6^th October                           Cooper

7^th October                           Maia

7^th October                           Hazel

7^th October                           Neve

7^th October                           Kaia