Term 4 always seems to grow legs and run rapidly down the home stretch to the summer holidays; and this year has been no exception. Perhaps it is the fine weather that allows our students to make the most of our fantastic grounds and outdoor spaces, as well as the busyness of Term 4 that has it pass so quickly – whatever it is, know that we are making the most of every learning opportunity, every day, every moment. Week 5 of  each term will see the replacement of our Walk ‘n’ Talk track signs, so I encourage families to again do a few circuits of our track to read and respond to the new ideas and questions created by our classes along the way.

Congratulations to our Year 3 and 4 students who represented our school recently at the 3-4 Sports Expo. By all reports our students were fantastic representatives of our school and had a fabulous time learning the skills of tennis, basketball and martial arts.

Our school improvement agenda is always informed by data and one of the data sets I have been looking at recently is student attendance. While this still sits below 90% I am pleased to report an increase of almost 2% across the school and an increase of over 10% in the number of students attending 9 out of 10 days. I trust we can keep this up for the rest of the year, and even improve upon our attendance data by the end of the year. As always if there are any barriers to a student getting to school, please make contact as we may be able to assist because as DECYP state, ‘with an education, anything can happen. By going to school every day, you are increasing your options in a big way.’ 

This week we welcomed Mr Ian Loft to our school and are incredibly grateful that he will be running Bike Sessions on Mondays for the rest of the term. A huge thank you to all those parents who helped students from near and far get their bikes to school. The students certainly enjoyed the day and I hope we see more of our students safely riding to school in the future. Wouldn’t it be great if we had to install new bike racks to cater for the number of students getting active at the beginning of the day and riding to school.

A quick reminder that replies are needed for the Christmas Lunch. It is a day that we all look forward to and, in advance to all our school community members who help get the Christmas lunch cooked, served and cleared away – we thank you. Additionally, to those who donate more than the cost of the dinners to ensure everyone can enjoy the lunch – we are grateful.

On the last day of term, we will be having an Activities Day at school, with a shared lunch. It has been a few years since we have had a shared lunch at Havenview Primary and from all accounts, I am told it is a wonderful activity enjoyed by everyone present. For those parents, whose children are yet to experience the last day shared lunch, when supplying a plate of food, please remember that we are a nut and egg free school. More details will be sent out next week and a reminder closer to the day.