Dear Queenscliff Parents and Carers,
Over the past few weeks we have certainly observed a clear change in temperature as we head towards the Winter months. With cooler mornings and afternoons, we encourage families to ensure your child comes to school dressed warmly for the cooler weather with school jumpers, jackets and scarves. Please ensure all items of clothing are labelled with your child’s name, in the event the item is left on the playground at the end of recess or lunch. All lost property is taken to the school office. It really makes a big difference when clothing items are labelled to ensure it is returned to your child.
Excellence Certificates
Congratulations to our Excellence Certificate recipients. Students were presented with their special Excellence Certificates at our assembly held on Friday 9 May, after earning 10 Excellence Stamps in their diaries. I was highly impressed by the number of students who received their certificates, reflecting the hard work, dedication and persistence of our students in classrooms. Each and every one of them should feel extremely proud of their achievements.
Prep | Emily Forsythe Oscar De Goey Vivianne Hunt Nora Fitzpatrick | 3/4R | Hazel Warring Clem Vistarini Harper Shipman Qunnie Wilmot Finn Mauger |
Year 1 | Sophia Green Noah BL Hazel Morris Marlow Talbot-Dunn | 5/6T | Kitty Britton Sadie Morris Oli Talbot-Dunn Tom May Lou Foott Olivia Warring Marcel Sayegh Jack Harris |
Year 2 | Alby Wilmot Zara Kerney Hazel Cini Miles Garland Hunter Murphy Mabel Boyd | 5/6C | Emilia Horbowsky Sol Eldridge Nate Thapa |
3/4T | Alice High Henry Vosbergen Edie Wilkinson Ruby Stanley Amelie Stanley Hassan Mushtaq Clem Fitzgerald Macy Murphy | 5/6H | Suhani Kheni Dusty Montgomery |
Celebrating our Education Support Staff
On Thursday 15 May, we celebrated our Education Support Staff for ‘Education Support Day’. ‘Education Support Day’ is an important occasion for our school to recognise and celebrate the vital role that Education Support (ES) staff play in the life of our school community. Whether working directly with students in classrooms, providing one-on-one support, actioning goals on Individual Education Plans (IEPs), managing administration, supporting teaching and learning programs, maintaining school facilities, or assisting with wellbeing programs, our ES staff contribute in countless ways to creating a safe, inclusive, and nurturing environment for all. Celebrating ‘Education Support Day’ not only acknowledges their hard work and dedication, but also helps foster a culture of respect and appreciation across the school. It’s a chance for students, teachers, and families to say ‘thank you’ to the people who often work quietly behind the scenes but are essential to the success and wellbeing of our students. I would like to take this opportunity to show my gratitude and appreciation to our Education Support staff:
Mrs. Tansy Young
Mrs. Nicki Reefman
Miss. Mackenzie Woodman
Ms. Kirby Young
Mrs. Chaya Lewry
Mr. Stuart Mandley
Mrs. Danielle Carson
Mrs. Sarah Edgely
Mr. Kent Stonehouse
Miss. Riley Stapler
We celebrated our Education Support Staff on Thursday with a special morning tea and words of gratitude. I encourage parents and carers in our school community to express your gratitude towards our Education Support staff by saying ‘Thank you for your support, dedication and efforts’. Our Education Support team is pivotal to nurturing and enriching the learning and wellbeing outcomes of our students.
Soccer Lightning Premiership
Congratulations to our Year 5/6 Lightning Premiership Girls and Boys Soccer Teams who competed against schools on the Bellarine on Thursday 8 May. Both teams played five matches over the course of the day against St Leonards Primary School, Portarlington Primary School, St Aloysius Primary School, Wallington Primary School and Point Lonsdale Primary School and came out undefeated. This is an outstanding achievement for both of our teams, reflective of their hardwork and dedication to practice and training sessions in the lead up to the day. Most importantly, our students demonstrated sportsmanship and fair play when competing, representing our school with pride and respect. Coaches and teachers from other schools commented on how respectful and encouraging our students were on the day. Both teams have qualified to compete at the Division Soccer Tournament held later this term on Wednesday 18th June. Thank you to Mr. Churchill and Mrs. Tannouri for organising lunchtime training sessions for our students to develop their soccer skills, sportsmanship and sense of team.
Congratulations to the following students:
QPS Boys Team | QPS Girls Team |
Oli Talbot-Dunn Charlie High Sol Eldridge Perry Locke Xavier Grainger Marcel Sayegh Nate Thapa Ravi Patel Lenny Tuttle Cooper Harandian Aydin Sayegh Tom May Jude Spencer | Sophia Erichsen Annabell Clingan Bahati Lund Willow Lund Laila Follett Eva Thomason Nyah Lapham Kitty Britten Emilia Horbowsky Olivia Warring Loretta Boyd Ruby Vistarini Mae Gorgievski Winter Boyd Asher Clayden |
Over the past week, we have had our Year 5/6 students participating in trials for our Lightning Premiership Football and Netball teams. Next Monday 26 May, our students will venture to Shell Road Reserve in Ocean Grove to compete in the Football and Netball Lightning Premiership competition. We wish our students all the best for this exciting day of competition.
IDAHOBIT Day
On Friday 16 May, our school celebrated IDAHOBIT Day with students dressing up in rainbow colours to promote respect, inclusivity and acceptance for the LGBTQIA+ community. The day was organised by our Wellbeing Leaders, Sass Fitzgerald and Laila Follett, with the support of other Student Leaders and Ms. Robertson. Students in Prep to Year 2 learnt about how families are diverse in their makeup, whilst students in Year 3-6 focused on how the power of words can have a positive and/or negative impact on an individual’s sense of belonging, with specific reference to gender and sexuality. IDAHOBIT Day is an important day to recognise and celebrate as a school, so that we can provide inclusive and safe spaces for all students to feel like they are enough, that they belong and that they can be whoever they want to be. It's through raising awareness through the power of education of how diverse our community is within our young people, that we can truly take action against bullying and discrimination. It was a day celebrating inclusivity, love and acceptance.
Division Cross Country
Yesterday, Mr. Thompson and a group of eager runners travelled to Eastern Gardens in Geelong to compete in the Division Cross Country event. The weather was ideal for a day of competition with the sun shining down on our runners. We are so proud of all of our competitors in making it to the Division level. Congratulations to all our runners who represented our school at the Division Cross Country Event at Eastern Gardens.
Division Cross Country Results:
9-10 Girls - 43rd place Georgia Ward
11 Girls - 33rd place Nyah Lapham, 47th place Asher Clayden
11 Boys - 5th place Xavier Grainger, 27th place Marcel Sayegh
12-13 Girls - 42nd place Annabelle Clingan, 43rd place Kitty Britton, 46th place Mae Gorgievski
12-13 Boys - 44th place Oliver Kent, 48th place Charlie High
We would like to congratulate Xavier Grainger who has qualified to run at the Regional level cross country event. This will be held on the 19th of June at Keilor Park Sports Precinct in Keilor, Melbourne. Good luck Xavier.
House Meetings
Every three weeks, students from Prep to Year 6 will participate in House Meetings on Friday afternoons. The purpose of these meetings is to build greater connections between our students across year levels and with staff (apart from their classroom teacher), as well as to foster a stronger sense of house culture. On Friday 9 May, students met for their first House Meeting of Term 2 whereby they explored the meaning of their house colours and animal mascots, and practised their house chants. The Student Leaders recently decided to organise a ‘House Chant Off’ that will be held in the final week of Term 2. Houses will have the opportunity to perform their House chants along with choreography in a competition against other Houses. The stakes are high and students are feeling very motivated to learn their House chants and choreography.
Literary Festival
Over the past two weeks, students from Prep to Year 6 had the opportunity to participate in Author Workshops as part of the Queenscliff Literary Festival. These workshops were highly engaging and inspiring for our students, where they got to meet real life authors, learn new writing skills and understand the challenges and setbacks that many writers can face when publishing a book. The key message from all our author workshops during the Queenscliff Literary Festival was the power of persistence. The authors shared stories of how they faced many setbacks when publishing their books and had to persist with writing and rewriting and rewriting their texts, taking on feedback from publishers and peers to refine their work. Our Prep-Year 2 students met Beth and Byll from Teeny Tiny Stevies, our 3-4 students met Felicia Arena and our Year 5/6 students met Huda Hayek, author of the book ‘Huda and Me’.
Reconciliation Week
Next week is National Reconciliation Week from Tuesday 27 May until Tuesday 3 June. This year’s theme is ‘Bridging Now to Next’, reflecting the ongoing connection between past, present and future. ‘Bridging Now to Next’ calls on all Australians to step forward together, to look ahead and continue the push forward as past lessons guide us. Throughout National Reconciliation Week, students will be participating in a range of learning activities about First Nations culture, creation stories, art, family structures, belief systems and history. We encourage families to actively engage in conversations about First Nations culture and history with your children to foster inclusivity, understanding and respect.
‘Seen’ Documentary Screening
This Friday 23 May, the recent documentary titled ‘Seen’ will be screened at the Uniting Church in Queenscliff at 7:00pm. In our recent Parent Workshop with Lisa Taylor on anxiety and school refusal, she highly recommended parents and carers to view this new documentary. It explores the theme of parenting and provides practical insights that may be helpful for families.
Visit the website link below to book your tickets. I encourage families to book tickets if you are available on Friday 23 May. I look forward to seeing the film myself.
Our school will be hosting another parent workshop with Lisa Taylor on Thursday 29 May at 7:00pm. Please see below for further details and to register your attendance at the workshop - https://www.trybooking.com/DBR...
Huff and Puff
Due to the decline in students’ attending Huff and Puff over the past 8 weeks, our school has decided to no longer continue with this program. As the program is coordinated and delivered by our Education Support team, it is important that we have enough students attending the sessions to make it operationally viable to run in the mornings. The effectiveness and impact of the program is dependent on students participation and engagement with the sessions. Over the past year and a half, the program has been highly successful in encouraging students to arrive at school earlier, get active, learn new skills and to support students to connect with others and form new friendships. Students can continue to arrive at school in the mornings from 8:30am.
Assembly
Our next assembly for Term 2 will be held on Friday 30 May 2025. Parents, carers and community members are invited to join us for this special celebration whereby we will have Year 1, 3/4R and Visual Arts showcasing their learning.
School Council
On Monday 19 May, our School Council met to discuss school operations, strategic planning for the school, grounds and gardens projects, upcoming school excursions and camps as well as school financial reports. The School Council also discussed key components of feedback provided from the recent School Review process. If you have correspondence or feedback you would like to provide to the School Council, parents and carers are invited to email our School Council President, Daniela Sayegh at daniela.sayegh@education.vic.gov.au .
Nyatne baa Gobata
(Thank you and take care)
Mat McRae
Principal
