Drysdale Primary School

Drysdale Community Market – Sunday 15th November

We are very excited that the Drysdale Community Market that is organised and run by the school is restarting this Sunday, November 15th. I am extremely grateful to Jac Absolom our market co-ordinator who has done an extraordinary amount of work to set up the market and complete all the organisational adjustments necessary for this to be a COVID safe event.

Please come along and support this community event. You will still be expected to maintain a safe social distance 1.5 metres and make use of the sanitizing stations / sanitizing facilities available at individual stalls.

The money raised through the market supports the well-being program at our school. The well-being program reaches out to any of our students who need social or emotional support such as making friends, anxiety or anything else that is troubling them.

One requirement of our COVID safe plan is that we monitor the number of people onsite at any one time. To do this we are looking for volunteers who can offer 30 minutes of their time on Sunday morning to support our school’s major fundraising effort. Thank you to the people who have already offered their support, which is much appreciated. We still need a few more.

Please can anyone who is willing and able to volunteer for half an hour between 9:00am and 1:00pm let me or any of the Principal Team know either by email philip.dunlop-moore@education.vic.gov.au or in person at the school gate where we are usually on duty at the beginning or end of school.

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Planning for 2021

We are busy making arrangements for the 2021 school year. For 2021 we will have slightly fewer students at school and, therefore, need a slightly different class structure. We have also changed our enrolment area to include all students whose permanent residential address is within 3222. This is already increasing our student numbers which may well mean reverting to a more traditional Drysdale PS class structure in 2022.

In 2021 we will operate three single age Prep classes and two single age classes in each of the other year groups plus one composite Year 1 and Year 2 class, one composite Year 3 and Year 4 class and one composite Year 5 and Year 6 class. In each of these composites we will identify children from the younger year group who have the learning skills and maturity to work more closely with the students from the older year group. In all classes we will continue to teach each student as close to their point of learning needs as possible.

We are still finalising with the staff who will be teaching in each year group. As soon as this is complete I will inform the school community.

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Drysdale Community Market 

Friendship Requests

Later this week we will be asking each student to identify up to five other students with whom they would like to work in the same class next year. Our aim is to arrange the students into classes in which they are paired with at least one of these friends. There are many complexities associated with class lists so we can never absolutely guarantee particular placements but we always work with the children’s best learning needs at heart.

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2021 in School Tutoring Program

All government schools have been informed by the Department of Education and Training (DET) the level of additional funding they will receive to offer small group tutoring to students whose education was particularly interrupted during remote learning. This is in addition to the plans we have already formed to enable our students to make the progress expected between December 2019 and December 2021.

There is further information to come about how we should identify the students who will receive tutoring and how the program will operate. Parents of students who may be included in this program will be advised about this once the program is finalised later this term. This tutoring program is a very significant commitment by DET to support the learning of all young Victorians.

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Noone Uniform Shop 

School Magazine Cover Photo Competition Winners

Congratulations to Owen and Mae from Year 6 whose photos were selected for the front and back cover of our 2020 school magazine. Thank you to everyone that sent in their amazing photos, it was certainly a close call as they were all so fantastic!

Look out for some other photographs from students throughout the magazine!

See read more to see the winning entries:

Read more…

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Potato Fair Gold Sponsors 

The AP WrAp

Last week we held the Prep Information Night for 2021 families. It was wonderful to have so many parents and carers join us online to learn more about what Prep in 2021 will be like. The next transition sessions are this Wednesday, with kinder children coming at either 9:30am or 11am for their second transition session. We can’t wait to see their smiling faces again.

I was lucky enough to walk into Year 3 just as Will was beginning his speech about ‘Wesley’ his cat. Will was developing his Speaking and Listening skills along with his peers by presenting to an audience and asking and answering questions! All of the Year 3 students have put in a great amount of work and completed their speeches. You should all be very proud of yourselves!

Jayden also from Year 3 demonstrated his understanding of the synthesising process when reading! Jayden read about the Circulatory System and then linked his prior knowledge to new knowledge to further develop his understanding and the main ideas in the text! Well done Jayden.

Miley from Year 5 also visited our office to share some of her learning with us. She had planned, drafted and published a narrative story about a mythical creature and is really looking forward to sharing it with her new Prep buddy later this year. The Year 5s are also working on the information reports about Drysdale. They have been busy researching and sharing facts about our community.

Please read more to see Jayden’s work

Read more…

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Sun Shade Grant Success!

School Council and Parents and Friends are delighted to announce we have been awarded a Department of Health and Human Services Schools Shade grant of $23,400 to build a new shaded sandpit with surround seating on the north side of the BER. This shade structure and sandpit will go some way to replace the big old shady sandpit that was removed to build the new Prep building.

The grant will also enable us to plant some mature trees in the central terraces and some more indigenous tube stock on the west side near the bike shed. Another element of the grant was a sunscreen grant.

We have been awarded $700 worth of sunscreen for students which aligns beautifully with our school Sun Smart Policy. This grant would not have been successful without the development of the Landscape Master Plan and without the support of Parents and Friends fundraising in 2019 to build the sandpit.

DPS fundraising contributions will fund the sandpit component, with the DHHS grant funding the shade structure and surrounding plants. In 2019, there was a large amount of work undertaken regarding this application and thanks must go to Kate Lockhart and Felicity Christian for laying the ground work and to Nic Alonso and Kate Lockhart for working together in 2020 to complete the application, gather quotes and subsequently submitting the application on behalf of DPS. It is anticipated that the structure will be built over the summer holidays with the support from a local building company.

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School Photos

Yesterday personalized flyers were sent home with all students with their unique number. You can now register online.

Even if you registered last year, you still need to register again this year to link your child’s images for the current year with your details.

Once registered, please wait for notification that 2020 images are ready to view before making your purchase. All photo orders will be sent directly to the address you provide when ordering.
To be notified when images are ready to view – Register Online .

1. Go to https://order.arphotos.com.au
2. Enter the 2020 image code for your child (from their personalized flyer)
3. Fill in your email and mobile details

That’s it! You’ll be notified by email/SMS when 2020 images are ready to view and purchase.

In the webshop you can view photos and customize your photo package; Choose ANY layout, ANY image plus purchase digital image downloads.

POST photo day-ONLINE LINK 2020

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Book Fair is Coming!

We have been fortunate enough to book a spot for a Scholastic Book Fair for 2020! We are extremely excited and can’t wait for the cases to arrive! Although the Book Fair will need to be COVID friendly, we are still so happy that our students get to experience this.

The Book Fair will begin Tuesday, 17th November and run through until Friday, November 20th.

Students will visit the fair as a class and create their own wish list! Students can then take this wish list home and families can purchase their texts online.

Parents/carers, please record the 8 digit receipt number on the back of the Wish List and return this to school where students will then be given their purchased text at a specific time to avoid year levels crossing over. How easy is that!! More information will follow regarding which days students can collect their texts throughout the Book Fair.

Last year we were able to access over $700 worth of new texts for our library thanks to your generosity! I wonder what this year will bring?

 

Book Fair Flyer and Payment Information

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NAIDOC Week – November 8th-15th

This year the theme for NAIDOC week is ‘Always has, Always will be’, recognising that First Nations people have occupied and cared for this continent for over 65,000 years.

This is a significant event for all Australians including the Drysdale community as we work together to bring about a better understanding of our history, which is inclusive of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history, culture and languages.

To recognise NAIDOC week in our classrooms this year, our students will be learning about the concept of Connection to Country, including traditional custodians, sustainable land management practices, length of occupation, bush food and medicine, mapping and navigation, astronomy and the significance of song-lines in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Culture.

To learn more about NAIDOC week and ways you can get involved, visit:

https://www.naidoc.org.au/get-involved/naidoc-week-events

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Sustainability News

Many students have been part of the lunchtime garden club and have enjoyed rejuvenating our veggie garden each Thursday. Last week we planted many beautiful herbs, veggies and succulents that had been kindly donated by the Clifton Springs Garden Club.

We would love to say a huge “THANKS” to them for providing us with these plants. We know they will be well looked after by our students.

We are still collecting milk bottle lids for recycling. The tubs are filling quickly and we will need to deliver them to be recycled very soon. However, if you have some lids laying around home bring them in to the collection tubs outside the Year 3-4 rooms or near the Year 1 classrooms. Remember recycling these, goes to a great cause in making prosthetic limbs for children in need. Thanks for your support.

Please see read more for all the photos

Read more…

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Special Lunch Order Day – Tuesday 1st December

There is a special canteen lunch available to all students Tuesday, 1st December, order forms went home with students on Monday. Orders can be made online via quickcliq.com.au  or handed into the canteen no later then Tuesday, 24th November . Please note that normal canteen items are NOT available on this day.

Please find a copy of the order form

2020 Term 4 Special Canteen Order

 

 

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Community Bank Portarlington & Drysdale Education Award

The Portarlington & Drysdale Bendigo Bank branches are offering 6 awards of up to $1,000 each to Year 6 students entering High School in 2021.

Open for applications from Monday, 9 November 2020 until Friday, 4 December 2020

The Education Award aims to encourage and assist with educational requirements of Year 6 students entering Year 7, in 2021.

The Award is open to students who reside in postcodes 3222 & 3223 who will be attending a High School on the Bellarine Peninsula or in the Geelong Region in 2021.

For further information and to apply, click the following link and select 2020 as the ‘End Year’.

https://cia.communityenterprisefoundation.com.au/Program/Index/2

 

 

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Camp Australia

Camp Australia’s National Your Creative Kids week has arrived. This is a special week filled with activities designed to showcase your children’s creativity and artistic flair. A highlight of this is the special, Australia Wide competition that families have an option of participating in. This is open to all children who are registered with Camp Australia, they don’t have to be attending OSHC during the week in order to enter. With amazing prizes including an Ipad, a drawing tablet and a programmable robot it is looking very exciting. In order to enter just call into OSHC and get a template.

Read more…

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Drysdale Primary School

School Council Members

President: Julie Penfold Vice President: Stephanie Davey
Treasurer: Seumas Spark Executive Officer: Glen Lauder
Secretary: Evan Wailes    
Members: Gary Absolom, Kate Lockhart, Miquel Trujillo Coll, Nic Alonso, Tara van Winckel, Rebecca Hoyne, Kate Wojcik
School Councillors can be contacted via the school office or school email