We have had a fantastic start to the year with children arriving happy, confident, well rested and enthusiastic. Thank you from all of the staff for preparing them so well.
Just a few additional pieces of information to end the week.
Hopefully you have had a connect notice from your child’s teacher. All families are automatically sent a link to join connect, but sometimes this can end up in junk or deleted items as it can look a bit like spam, so if you haven’t yet received a notice, please could you give Lara a ring in the office and she will happily and quickly resend your link or password.
We have made lots of plans for the year, pending Mark McGowan’s announcement this weekend. Provisionally, here are a few diary dates, with relevant links:
I have put an assembly schedule on the website.
The P&C Centenary Fair is Saturday March 20th. This is an afternoon / evening event.
Applications for government secondary school Gifted and Talented programs (including at John Curtin, Melville, Applecross, Shenton and Fremantle College) for year 7 in 2022 close on Sunday February 14. This information applies to our current year 6 students. If you haven’t already applied, now is the time.
Our School Board AGM is on Thursday 18 February at 7.00pm in the library. There’s more information here: Richmond School Board.
The canteen is now open for online orders.
School banking and running club will both restart next Tuesday before school. To join running club simply come to the oval at 8.10am on Tuesday or Wednesday and look for Mr Carder.
Tennis, OSH Club and Bricks for Kids have all started this week.
Our P&C AGM is on Tuesday 16 February at 7.30pm in the library.
The role of the P&C is twofold: to build community and to raise funds. Their underlying mandate is always to improve outcomes for students.
Building community, in the context of a school, means bringing people together with a common purpose – to support the children. This could mean organising a child specific event like a disco or colour run, or operating the canteen; organising a family event like a dads’ camp, breakfast or movie night; or planning a bigger community event like the Centenary Fair. All of these events are intended as an opportunity to widen the children’s sense of place and connection and enhance their life experiences.
From time to time the P&C will organise parent only events so that parents can bond and hopefully create strong and positive teams.
Each year, the P&C appoints class parent reps in each classroom. Their role is to bring class families together by organising activities, and to coordinate their class parents’ participation in bigger P&C activities. Please could you tell your teacher now, if you’d like to volunteer for this really important role, and complete the P&C nomination form on our website.
The class parent rep creates and moderates a contact list for class parents to chat to each other on an opt-in basis. To join, parents send their details to the rep. We don’t display or circulate class lists these days, since we have an increasing number of families who prefer their child’s full name not be shared electronically. This can be for all kinds of reasons such as being wards of the state, fleeing situations, fostering, having a high profile or controversial job, other safety concerns or simply personal preference. We also no longer put children’s full names on the website, Facebook page or on leavers shirts for the same reason.
If you are keen to assist the P&C in building community and /or fundraising, it would be great if you would consider joining. Over the years, despite often low numbers, the P&C has done a really fantastic job in both areas. Obviously last year their hands were tied somewhat by restrictions and we all hope things will open up again next week.
It’s very rewarding to be part of the P&C group and I’m sure any and all events you help to plan will be particularly well received this year.
Finally, we are all looking forward to singing our new school song. I’ve put the lyrics here if you are keen to learn at home… and we have beautiful a new centenary logo to use on centenary merchandise. It has been designed by two students and styled by a parent graphic artist, thank you!
Enjoy the weekend,
Lisa Dentith