Swimming
Caledonian Primary School
Newsletter
Tuesday 23
rdFebruary 2021
Calendar
February
Wednesday 24th – Preps do not attend
March
Friday 5th – House Colour Day
Thursday 11th – School Athletic Sports
Tuesday 23rd – School Photos
Tuesday 23rd – School Council meeting and AGM 6.30 pm
April
Thursday 2nd – Last day of term 1, students dismissed at 2.30 pm
Monday 19th – Term 2 begins
Dear Families,
So glad last week’s lockdown was brief! We were all very pleased to be back on site and into learning!
I am conducting an experiment at home with some very interesting results. I recently learned how to access our wifi router and block certain websites. As my children are very sneaky and have an addiction (I believe) to Youtube I decided to block it!
What has been very surprising is when you block the YouTube webpage, Google (who own YouTube) doesn’t work as well. Google images doesn’t work, google classroom and shared drives don’t work and google meet is blocked. This tells me Google really doesn’t want you to block Youtube!
This isn’t the end of the experiment though. My 10 year old last night came home from swimming at 4:30, loudly announcing she was going to get on her computer to “do her homework”. This was said with great enthusiasm. 5 minutes later she comes to me very upset as she claims she wanted to watch a very important instructional video on division… Now I have been around a while and I know this was a plan to get YouTube working, so instead I directed her to another website that has instructions on how to do maths.
Funnily enough the enthusiasm for homework died very quickly.
Online platforms are designed to make money from advertising. This is how they are so profitable. It follows then that online platforms want people to be online as long as possible to sell more advertising. Our children are staying up later than they should, consuming more internet based entertainment than is healthy and this is having impact in schools as children are sneaking devices until very late and are coming to school tired. It remains the
recommendation that children have no more than 2 hours of screen time per day. I know I have failed at this at times and my children can be doing “homework” for 3-5 hours a night!
However, as parents we must be mindful of the amount of time our children are online as well as what they are doing online.
After a year of lockdowns, months of “online learning” and for many of us working remotely on our own laptops and devices some things have become habitual. It’s easy to pass over a device and get some peace and quiet so we can get on with our own work, or just so we can tidy the house and cook dinner! Now is the time to reflect on how much time our kids spend on devices!
So back to my experiment. The kids have certainly “cracked the sads” over the loss of their favourite entertainment source. Significant levels of huffing and puffing up and down the hallway, some attempts at door slamming, tears, loud exclamations of “I’m bored” etc.
But as they realised YouTube is not working, last night they played in the back yard. Then we watched SpongeBob together while cooking dinner and actual, real, books were read before bedtime!
I haven’t told them I blocked it myself though, I am not brave enough!
Our staff have started an online training in the Writing Revolution. This comes straight from New York and we are very lucky to be starting work at 7:00 am on Tuesdays for the remainder of this term to access the training. Today’s session focussed on sentence level work. Part of the approach is to develop a much stronger foundation to our writing instruction explicitly teaching sentence construction, then paragraphs. This method is being adopted in schools across Australia with teachers attending the sessions from all sectors. This high level approach will begin to be included in our instruction this term and as we learn more I will share this with you all!
This Friday our school hosts Cayden’s garage sale as he works to raise as much money as he can for “Shave for a Cure”. We will be asking staff to move cars into the street before the end of the day- this will result in some congestion for parking at pick up time but we are doing for a good cause! We thank you for your understanding. I know it may seem ridiculously early, but we have already started receiving enrolments for 2022. We would love to make sure we have places for everyone so we need to ensure all our current families get their place first! Please contact the office – we can send the forms home with other siblings to make it easy for you!
A new feature this week is staff profiles. We are starting with the admin team. I am of the firm belief that I can’t ask someone to do what I am not prepared to do myself!
Ben Moody Principal
I have been in various school leadership positions for 10 years and Caledonian PS is my second Principal role. I love surfing (as most of the students already know) and tend to play video games on either Switch or PS4. I am not allowed to buy a PS5 .. yet…
I have lived in Melbourne, East Gippsland and Ballarat and I have worked in schools as small as 60 student’s right up to 950.
I believe Caledonian PS is the best school in Victoria and love being part of this community!
Geoff Dickson Assistant Principal
I have been working here at Caledonian for many years. It has been wonderful to see improvements and changes that have occurred within our school grounds. I’m very proud of our garden and how it has developed over time, including more than 60 fruit trees that we now have in our school grounds.
Prior to working here at Caledonian I have taught in Casterton, Merino, Wando Vale, Merbein and many Ballarat schools. Prior to being Assistant Principal I have taught Physical Education, Music and Art and at every grade level. Wellbeing of students, at Caledonian is my main focus. It is always wonderful to see individuals grow and develop emotionally, socially and in their education.
At home, I have a dachshund dog (Snhitzel Von Krumm) which I like to walk everyday but she is not always willing. I also really enjoy the garden and find the ride on mower relaxing activities. Brooke Stevens
Business Manager
I have worked in both Primary and Secondary schools for more than 10 years. Starting out as an Integration Aide, then I worked in a library and eventually to the office. Stepping into the BM role last year has been challenging and rewarding. I love working in the office at CPS and feel very lucky to be supported by such an amazing team.
In my spare time I love to sew, create and try out new recipes. I have just nailed the art of bubble tea making! I love the beach and I currently have an addiction to buying indoor plants.
Sally Noble Administration
Born and bred in Ararat, I left when I was 18 and lived in Melbourne for 28 years having worked in Administration all my working life, from 2013 have worked in various schools. Netball is my favourite sport having played at the highest level for many years and being selected for states was the highlight, you will now find me watching my kids play and coaching seniors at Sebas.
And I am an avid Essendon supporter. And every day I am extremely thankful to be working with the greatest staff at Caledonian!!
Have a great week! Ben
Breakfast Club
Breakfast Club will be commencing next week. It will operate on Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 8.20 until 8.45, when the first bell goes.
We are asking for parent volunteers to assist with the running of breakfast club. If we can get enough parent helpers you may be rostered on for only 2 mornings per term.
Breakfast Club serves cereals, toast and fruit.
For families new to our school, Breakfast Club provides breakfast to students, at no cost.
If you are able to assist with this program, please let myself or the office staff, know by Thursday 25th February by emailing your name, your child/ren name at school and which day you would prefer to assist or by phoning the office.
Thank you, Geoff Dickson
House Colours Day- Friday 5th March
In the lead up to our Cross Country and Athletics Carnivals we would like to see students get into their team spirit. On Friday 5th March, students and teachers are asked to come to school dressed in their School House Colours. Every student wearing their house colours with pride on the day, will earn their house a point to help kick 2021 off on the right foot.
For new families, this means that on this day, your child will wear a coloured T-shirt of the house they have been allocated to, shorts/track suit pants, coloured hair,ribbons, etc.
Red House- Eureka Gold House-Brownbill Green House-Sturt Blue House-Victoria
Absences
If your child is not going to be attending school due to sickness, please phone our office on 53326955 so that we can enter the details of the absence or you can enter the absence details on Compass. When using Compass to enter the absence details please leave a brief comment as to why your child is unwell.
School Phone Number
Please be aware that when we are trying to contact you from school our number displays as Private Number. Uniform
Caledonian Primary School requires all students to be dressed in our school uniform. A copy of our school uniform policy can be found on the school website or at the school office. Our school uniform suppliers are Crocker’s and Beleza.
CSEF-Camps, Sports and Excursion Fund
Parents/Careers with a means tested government healthcare/pension card are eligible to receive the CSEF payments. Application forms are available from the office.
No Hat No Play
As we are a Sun Smart School students must wear a hat whenever they are outside at school during term 4 and Term 1. Students must have a school wide brimmed hat; please do not send along peak caps. Hats are available from Lowes or Beleza.
Bell Times 2020
Bell times will remain the same for 2020 First bell- 8.45 am Second bell- 8.50 am Recess- 11 am – 11.30 am Lunch Eat- 12.30 pm – 12.45 pm Afternoon Recess- 1.45 pm – 2.15 pm Students dismissed- 3.15 pm
Children arriving after 9 am must collect a late pass from the office.
Brown Hill Playgroup @ Caledonian Primary School
All babies and preschool age children welcome!
Held every Wednesday morning 9am-11am at Caledonian Primary School, Multi-Purpose Room (Excluding
school and public holidays).
Bring a piece of fruit to share and a gold coin donation.
Find us on Facebook.
SHAVE DATE MARCH 12th 2021
Hi my name is Cayden Russell and I am 11 years old and one of your school vice
captains for 2021.
3 years ago I decided to grow my hair until grade 6 and then shave it all off to
donate it to make wigs and raise money for the Leukemia Foundation. The time has
come and I will be getting my head shaved at school assembly on Friday 12th March.
Also, I have been called a girl too many times that I can count but I say that I am a
boy and tell them why I have long hair.
My goal is to raise $3000 or more, to do this we are going to host a garage sale at
Caledonian Primary School on Friday 26th February from 4pm. At the garage sale
we will be hosting a bbq and running a raffle. Kombi for a Cause coffee van will also
be there. If any school families would like to donate anything towards the garage
sale or for a raffle please contact us via details below. We are also hosting a sausage
sizzle at my futsal club the week before so are looking for support for this.
We will be promoting all supporting businesses on the day with, posters thanking
them.
Every dollar will help this fantastic cause.
Please contact Kristy Russell 0419 316124
Email [email protected]
