Dear Parents and Carers,

I can't believe how quickly Term 1 is flying by! Our students and teachers have worked incredibly hard, and the school has had such a positive and settled atmosphere. The fabulous weather has been an added bonus. We have had a number of events and activities that complement our students' learning experiences. This year, we introduced Spelling Mastery, a structured program designed to build essential spelling skills, and Auslan, providing students with the opportunity to develop their knowledge of Australian Sign Language. These additions, along with our ongoing programs and initiatives, ensure that there is always something engaging happening in our school.

We very much value student voice and leadership, providing students with opportunities to take the lead in various events and activities throughout the year. This term our leaders have organised the House Fun Night, promoted inclusivity on Harmony Day, coordinated lunchtime sporting activities and will play a major role in the upcoming Easter Fair. By empowering students to lead, we help improve their confidence, responsibility, and collaboration skills.

School Council 2025

I am pleased to introduce our 2025 School Council and extend my appreciation to all members for their dedication and commitment to our school community. Continuing to serve from our parent body are Tom Linton, Kim Price, Krystal Kosakiewicz, Laura Gee, Bernie Wicks, Paul Wallin and Helen Spicer. Krystal Bond will continue in her position as community member on our School Council.

We also warmly welcome our new members, Olivia Chapman and Jessica Johnson. Our staff representatives on the School Council are Nicole Gill, Hayley Coffin, Katie Linton and Jodie Davern.

I look forward to working together with the council to ensure our school remains a safe, inclusive, and welcoming environment for all. Our School Council meets on the fourth Thursday of each month.

NAPLAN

Whilst NAPLAN is all part of what we do at schools and by now a very familiar scenario for most of our students, we are pleased to say that our NAPLAN period for 2025 is behind us. One thing to note is that NAPLAN is just one aspect of a school’s assessment and report process. Throughout the year, classroom teachers undertake a range of assessments, which give them a very detailed picture of your child’s learning. However, we look forward to receiving the results and learning from them when they are available later in the year.

Easter Fair

A big thank you goes out to all the families who have generously contributed prizes for the Easter Fair. Your support and generosity are truly valued! The Easter Fair is organised by our student leaders from the Junior School Council. This event serves as a significant learning opportunity for them, with minimal guidance from teachers. We entrust most of the control to the students, and they have excelled in organising, planning, and executing a day filled with fun activities.

The events at the Easter Fair are designed and managed by students, for students. This serves as a valuable experience for older children to mentor and assist younger students with activities, money, and ultimately fosters a sense of teamwork within our school community. All money raised will be donated to The Royal Children's Hospital Good Friday Appeal.

Learning Power Reports

At Yinnar Primary School, our Learning Power Approach is highly valued and plays a vital role in our students’ growth. This approach helps students develop important learning dispositions, empowering them to become great learners when taking on new challenges.

As a school committed to continuous improvement, we have reflected on our Learning Power Reports and decided to revise their format to better support student growth. This process will involve staff professional learning and time to ensure we create a more meaningful and effective report for families. As a result, we will not be sending home a Learning Power Report this term. The new and improved reports will be introduced in Term 3. I will keep our community updated throughout this process.

End of Term

Next week is the final week of term, and we have a busy week planned. Teachers are looking forward to meeting with parents/carers for parent/teacher conversations, and we encourage all families to book a time if they haven’t already. On Thursday at 2:00 pm, we will hold our House Cross Country event within the school grounds. On Friday, our Junior School Council will be running the Easter Fair, and this year, we’re introducing an Easter Bonnet Parade in place of the Egg Launch. We plan to alternate these activities each year to keep things fresh and engaging. As it is the last day of term, students will be dismissed at 2:30 pm. We look forward to a great end to the term.

Kind regards,

Christine

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.

 

It has been wonderful hearing about all of the fabulous egg creations that is happening at home. Please refer to the Easter Fair Information which has everything you need to know regarding Easter Bonnet and decorating specifics. Please remember, any completed egg decoration needs to be handed into the office by 12:30pm Thursday 3rd April with your family name clearly labelled. We will be announcing the 5 winning eggs from the egg decoration event after the Bonnet Parade, which is happening at 9am (Friday 4th April) on the netball courts.

FYI: The Egg Lauch is not gone only on pause! It will be back bigger and better next year!

 We can’t wait to see your Egg-cellent designs! 

Kind Regards,

JSC team