Dear Parents and Carers,

It may seem unbelievable, but we're at the midpoint of Term 4, and our schedule is quickly filling up with exciting events and activities for the remaining weeks of the year. I recommend that you stay watchful and check Compass for updates on upcoming events.

1/2 Adventure Evening

It was a delight to see our Grade 1/2 students fully immersed in their Night of Adventure. They had a wonderful time with a town walk, engaging in craft activities, enjoying a delicious dinner at school, and a disco. The Grade 2s also experienced their first overnight stay at school as part of our introduction to the camping program. I am incredibly grateful to our dedicated teachers, who, despite the busy season of report writing, made this event possible.

Prep Picnic Dinner

The prep students are very much looking forward to tonight’s picnic. The Village Green will provide the ideal setting for laying out picnic rugs, enjoying dinner and playing some games.  The Prep Picnic is the initial phase of our school camping program. The program is designed to gradually nurture students' confidence and independence, beginning with a school picnic, and culminating in a 3- or 4-day overnight camp at the senior level.

Sporting Events

Our school’s involvement and success in sporting events has continued this term, with some outstanding achievements to celebrate. Our softball team and Grade 5 cricket team both competed at the regional level, showing tremendous skill and sportsmanship.

A special congratulations to our girls' relay team—Beth, Alice, Zoe, and Eleanor—who competed at the state level, marking a significant achievement as they represent our school for the third consecutive year! This is a testament to their dedication and teamwork.

We’re also incredibly proud of Jayden M. and Elliott, who both represented our school in the high jump at the state level. All our athletes performed exceptionally well, achieving personal bests.

A heartfelt thank you to our wonderful parents for their continued support of their children and our school in these competitions. Your encouragement and support truly makes a difference!     

Remembrance Day

On the 11th day of the 11th month, at the 11th hour, our school paused to remember. Even during recess, the entire school gathered in silence by the flagpole to honour and respect those who have served our country.

Annual Implementation Plan Review

During week 4 of the term Nicole and I met with Kevin Mealing (Senior Education Improvement Leader) to reflect and discuss the school’s Annual Implementation Plan for 2024. This year the school’s Key Improvement Strategies focused on 

Learning:

• Embedding a whole school instructional approach to teaching
• Embedding a whole school approach to plan, teach and assess technology

Wellbeing:

• Building the school’s processes and practices to maximise inclusion and respect for diversity

The school completed all the planned actions and activities identified to support the Key Improvement Strategies. We are now in the process of making plans and setting goals for the 2025 Annual Implementation Plan.

A huge thank you to our leaders—Nicole, Kate, Amy, Hayley, and Teika—for their outstanding work in leading their areas of improvement this year. I truly appreciate their dedication and commitment to leadership. They consistently come well-prepared and informed, playing a vital role in driving continuous improvement in teaching and learning at our school.

Student Leadership

The process for selecting leadership positions for 2025 is underway, with students actively involved in writing applications to showcase their interest. Teachers are guiding students in Years 3 to 6 through the skills needed for crafting compelling applications and are providing extra support during lunchtimes to assist with this important task. While not every student will secure a leadership role, it is inspiring to see so many students eager to participate in the selection process and demonstrate their willingness to take on new responsibilities.

Providing student leadership roles in our school fosters responsibility, confidence, and decision-making skills in young learners. Leadership opportunities encourage students to take initiative, collaborate with peers, and contribute positively to their school community. More importantly, when students understand that leadership extends beyond wearing a badge, they learn to demonstrate respect, empathy, and integrity in their actions, motivating others and contributing to a positive and inclusive school environment

Our school leaders this year, Quade, Dusty, Bonnie and Hudson have been tremendous leaders and role models for our students. The following is what they had to say about their role in 2024.

This year, we school captains have been very busy. We’ve been regularly visiting the Yinnar Kinder and have organised various events and activities throughout the year. One of the initiatives we led was Bully No Way Day. This year, the Bully No Way colour changed from orange to purple, symbolising peace, strength, and standing up for each other. We visited each grade for around 45 minutes to teach about the importance of respect and that bullying is unacceptable.

We also supported NAIDOC Day and ran Wacky Wednesday. This year, Wacky Wednesday focused on inclusion and the importance of being yourself. We hoped to convey the message that it’s not okay to discriminate and that it’s perfectly fine to act differently from others.

Last term, we organised Yinnar’s Got Talent, with Kane taking first place. This term, we’ll be hosting Wheels Day, where we’ll focus on road safety and staying safe on wheels.

Being a school captain hasn’t been easy, but it has been incredibly rewarding. It’s a valuable role for developing leadership skills and gaining new experiences.

Staffing and Grade Structure for 2025

At this time of the year, many decisions and arrangements are being made in preparation for the 2025 school year. To assist in our planning, we would appreciate being notified immediately you are aware of any new enrolments or any students (other than Grade 6) moving from our school.

We currently have 231 students enrolled at the school in begin 2025 and will again have 10 classes and 4 specialist areas. We are also very pleased to have Lexi King and Tayla Cheffers taking up a graduate position at the school for 2025. Ebony Deering, Charlie Twomey, Sheena Peters and Jayme-Lee Griffin will work in specialist areas of the school.

Our classroom teaching staff and grade structure for 2025 is:

Our school’s involvement and success in sporting events has continued this term, with some outstanding achievements to celebrate. Our softball team and Grade 5 cricket team both competed at the regional level, showing tremendous skill and sportsmanship.

A special congratulations to our girls' relay team—Beth, Alice, Zoe, and Eleanor—who competed at the state level, marking a significant achievement as they represent our school for the third consecutive year! This is a testament to their dedication and teamwork.

We’re also incredibly proud of Jayden M. and Elliott, who both represented our school in the high jump at the state level. All our athletes performed exceptionally well, achieving personal bests.

Get your Colour on, Yinnar Primary School is hosting a Colour Splatacular Run 4 Fun!

Our Colour Splatacular Run 4 Fun will be on 29^th of November from 2.15pm to 3.15pm.

Not only are we hosting an awesome Colour Splatacular Run 4 Fun, students can order up to a total of 5 prizes based on their donations received. They can even mix and match! IF you don’t want the prizes, you donate your prize earnings to one of the five causes – Carbon Neutral (tree planting), Great Barrier Reef Foundation (coral planting or turtle protection), The Smith Family (reading support) or OzHarvest (providing meals).

The fundraising window will be open from the 18^th of October to the 22^nd of November.

Students have received a sponsorship book with instructions on setting up their cybersafe, online fundraising profile at www.australianfundraising.com.au. This is an entirely online fundraiser; all cash donations must be converted to online donations to redeem your prizes.

Extra Incentives to Fundraise!

• Online Golden Coins – complete fun online tasks to redeem an extra $75 towards your prize credit.
• Monty the Monstar’s Bonus Prizes – achieve milestones to unlock Monty’s bonus prizes.
• $10,000 Budget Booster Bonanza Spending Spree for one organisation’s highest fundraising student.
• Our school will win an extra $5,000 if we have the highest average fundraised amount per student in 2024.
• A Play Station 5 Gaming Bundle – see your child’s sponsorship booklet for more!

For more information, please contact Caitlin Twomey or Katie Linton.

Happy fundraising!

From the GRACE Team

Please see below the latest news from our School Nurse.  There is also information for the parents/carers of grade prep & one students about the School Nursing Program.

Late Arrival at School
        
 

Your child’s best learning time is at the beginning of each day.

Arriving late to school even just a few minutes can take a week off learning time for the year, which is almost half a year over a child’s lifetime at school.

The first bell rings at 8.35am with students expected to be in class by 8.45am ready to learn.

Late arrival to school is not only unsettling and embarrassing for your child, but a disruption to the class and those who are already in class learning.

Early Departure from School  

                   

Many students depart from school early, causing disruption to other students’ learning due to announcements over the school PA.

Students should only be picked up early if they have an appointment.    Preferably appointments are made during the school holidays or after school hours (we understand that this is not always practical or possible).

If you are picking your child up early due to an appointment can you please contact the office so that we can ensure your child is ready for collection from the office?  Please also enter the information into Compass so that School Attendance data is up to date and correct.

Early school departures cause a lot of distraction and interruption to everyone’s learning across the school.

We appreciate your support with late arrivals and early departures.