AXEDALE PRIMARY SCHOOL

“Excellence Through Endeavour”

High Street, Axedale 3551

Ph. (03) 5439 7232 Fax. (03) 5439 7575

Principal – Lex Johnstone

Email: axedale.ps@edumail.vic.gov.au

NEWSLETTER No. 40 December 6th 2018

Important dates:

Dec 7th Thank You Helpers -Morning Tea

@ 11.15am

7th Prep Dinner

7th 2019 Parent Payment Forms due

9th Axedale Community Carols

11th Orientation Day 9-12.30 & BBQ @

12.30pm

11th Parent Workshop 9am Tavern

11th School Council 6.00pm

13th Axedale Disco

Dec 13th Student Farewell BBQ with Mr J

6.30pm

14th Student Reports are sent home

16th School Choir – Bendigo Carols

18th Gr 6 Graduation Dinner

19th School Christmas Concert 6.45pm

20th Last day of school –

1.00 Assembly 1.30pm finish

21st Staff 2019 Planning Day – Student

Free Day

SCHOOL VALUES AWARDS

Alexis – For making the Kinder students feel

welcome on transition days and making them

feel comfortable in the prep room.

Ryder – For continually trying his best in class

and taking ownership and responsibility for his

learning.

Will H – For being a helpful classmate by

supporting another student in developing her

sports skills.

Steffi – For co-operating and showing respect

when working with others in the classroom.

Olly – For outstanding resilience on the Grade 4-

6 Bike Hike from Axedale to Knowsley.

Callum – For demonstrating fantastic resilience

on the Bike Hike to Knowsley.

Jaeyln – For being thoughtful and considerate of

the safety of others during the Bike Hike

CLASSROOM ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS

Jackson – For writing very interesting and

informative diary sentences and drawing detailed

pictures to add to the message.

Eliza – For showing excellent communication

skills when discussing our class narrative.

Zaithan – For applying the strategies he has

been learning in his handwriting sessions with

Mrs. Fiske-Kealy and making an effort to

improve the quality of his writing.

Darcy – For working hard to develop his

understanding of the connection between

division and multiplication in mathematics.

Kristah – For working hard to include some great work samples in her Term 4 Digital portfolio.

John H – For his hardworking approach and focus when completing his Passion project on Twin Turbo

engines.

HOUSE TROPHY

Our House Point Trophy this week went to Campaspe.

GOLDEN BRUSH

Well done to our Gr. 4/5group for their tidy efforts last

week.

READING AWARDS

Well done to our students who have earnt their 25

nights Reading Certificate, and also our P/1/2/3

students who have achieved another level of word

recognition this week. Great work!

MUSIC NIGHT

The audience could not have been prouder!! We have many amazing performers within our student group.

Last night we hosted our end of year Music Performance Night. Throughout the year, many students have

taken the chance to develop and strengthen their musical skills and were able to contribute as part of an

amazing overall performance.

The students, be they beginners or experienced

musicians, should be really proud of what they

were able to achieve. We were very proud of how

they were able to manage their nerves, focus on

what they learnt and were then able to relax and just

enjoy the performance.

From individual instrumental instruction, to small

group performances to now the opportunity to

perform as part of the band, we have provided a real

pathway for musically inclined students and also

set them up well for secondary college performance

opportunities later on.

Out thanks go out to Jo Woodward (Guitar), Lou

McGregor (Singing), David Dewar (Drums),

Rachel Mav, (Keyboard) Michelle Caldwell

(Choir) and Kaine Marsh (Rock Band) for their

guidance and support shown to the students during

the year.

An extra thanks to Kaine and David for providing

such great sound – a very professional sounding

performance.

A big thanks also to our audience who provided great encouragement and celebrated the successes of all our

performers.

TAVERN PERFORMANCE

Some plans had been put in place for our school band the Axedale Rock-a-Roos, to perform at the Axedale

Tavern on December 16th as part of their Community Christmas event. A clash of dates with the Bendigo

Carols where our Choir is performing means the Tavern Performance is now not possible, due to our

ongoing annual commitment to the Bendigo Carols.

The School Choir are required to meet Mrs. Caldwell at the Rosalind Park Rotunda at 7.30pm.

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

PREP DINNER

Our Prep Dinner is on tomorrow Friday 7th December. Preps will stay at school from 3.30 and will enjoy some

after school activities before enjoying a meal together and a little bit of DVD time. Pick up is 7.00pm. Ms

Saunders, Mrs E and Mr C will be here on the night.

PRINCIPAL POSITION – Update

Regional Office manages the process of appointing Principals to schools.

In the next few days we should be informed of the Acting Principal for Term One 2019.

During Term One, the position will be advertised state wide and a selection process will be managed by

Regional Office to appoint the new Principal to start Term Two 2019. School Council will have a

representative on the Selection Panel.

On Thursday 6th and Friday 7th, Gaye Saunders will be the Acting Principal. Michelle Mannes will be teaching

Preps on these two days.

ORIENTATION DAY- Axedale PS

At Axedale, we will be welcoming our new Prep students for a half a day at school following their three

November transition sessions. All P-6 students will be working in their likely 2019 class groups with their

likely 2019 teacher. At this stage we are awaiting on further information from Regional Office regarding the

Acting Principal position before some school based placements can be confirmed.

Class lists will be sent home asap, either Friday or Monday.

Students will work in their likely 2019 class groups from 9.00 – 12.30pm.

A 2019 Prep Information Session will be held in the staffroom from 11.45am – 12.30pm.

The morning session will be followed by a BBQ lunch from 12.30pm.

Following our lunch time break, students will spend the afternoon working in their 2018 classes and

classrooms.

BBQ lunch – sufficient food will be available for all students and parents. There is no need to pre-order.

Students are welcome to bring their own lunch if they do not want a sausage in bread.

ORIENTATION DAY – SECONDARY COLLEGE

Next Tuesday is Orientation Day across all Victorian Government secondary schools. Non-Government

secondary schools have had their Orientation Day this week.

We wish our Grade 6’s all the best as they head off to their respective secondary colleges for these important

days.

Bendigo South East SC Weeroona SC Victory College Catherine McAuley Coll.

Piper Bella Issy Alex

Nadia Liam Tahlia Zane

Cameron Luke Katya Jaeyln

Thomas Jack Angus

Anthony

GRADE 4/5/6 BIKE RIDE

A big congratulations to our Grade 4/5/6 students who took part in our Bike Hike last Friday. They are to be

congratulated on their efforts – many achieving a personal best of 20km – the equivalent of riding from

Axedale to Bendigo! It was amazing to hear how many students rode all the way up Ingham’s Hill coming

out of Axedale and then managed to navigate their way safely down it on the way home.

Thanks to our many parent helpers who helped make the ride possible – Jodie Black, Agatha Doyle, Tanya

Czuczman and Rheannon Willoughby on road crossings and support vehicles, Scott White for co-ordinating

the use of the Knowsley CFA Shed as our half way stop and to parent riders Daryl Smith, Neil Aurisch,

Shane Carmody, Derek Cairney, Garry Van Wynen and Paul Carrick for their invaluable moral support to

riders along the way. It was also great to have the support of Garry, Lindsay, Ken & Kevin from the Rail

Trail Group who not only rode with us, but spent many hours here before the ride, adjusting gears, brakes,

seats etc to ensure that we had no mechanical hiccups on the day. A real team effort.

ART SHOW

We are planning to exhibit lots of student work from 2018 in our Assembly space during next week. The

school will be open next Thursday afternoon from 3.30 – 6.30 for those wishing to look at the display but

can’t get there during normal daytime working hours. There will also be a designated evening when the

school will remain open for students to bring parents up to school who may not be able to get here during

daytime working hours. The art show will be in the week beginning Monday 10th December.

STUDENT REPORTS

Thank you to parents for taking part in the Parent Teacher Interview process last week. Feedback from both

staff and parents were that the sessions were very useful in sharing student achievement details and as a

good lead in to the Student Reports that will be sent home on Friday 14th December.

Also coming home will be Learning Journals for younger students and Digital portfolios for older students.

While we know it is a very busy time of the year, we encourage parents to take some time with their children

to sit down and discuss the information shared and student work samples.

KINDER TRANSITION

Today we had the third of four transition visits for our 2019 Prep students. Today they worked in the room

with our 2018 preps and enjoyed some cooperative toy play, a story and an activity.

These photos are from last week’s transition day with the students enjoying reading a picture book with a

Grade 5 buddy.

THANK YOU MORNING TEA

Tomorrow we are hosting a Morning Tea to say thank you to all of the school and wider community people

who have helped us out this year. As an expression of our thanks, parents are invited to come along and

enjoy a cuppa and a bite to eat. Please come along from 11.15am, we are looking forward to seeing you.

MONDAY ASSEMBLY

The Prep Grade will be performing their special song at assembly this Monday 10th December.

LIBRARY BOOKS

We have a lot of books from the library which are missing. Can parents please check at home and return any

books ASAP for our library audit. Thanks for your help with this.

MARC VAN BOOKS

Can all MARC van books please be returned to the office ASAP so Mrs Gentry can complete her stocktake

of books. Thanks for your assistance.

CHRISTMAS CONCERT

We will again be holding our Christmas Concert in the Axedale Hall. This year the concert will be on

Wednesday 19th December, will begin at 6.45pm and will run for approximately one hour. Our grades will

perform a number of Christmas items and we will also present a number of end of year awards.

2019 PARENT PAYMENT INFORMATION

An envelope with information regarding our 2019 Parent Payment Charges was sent home last week. Please

take the time to look through this information and fill out your preferred payment option and return to school

by tomorrow Friday 7th December.

The Book Pack collection day will be Friday 25th January 2019 from 9.30am-2pm.

PARENT WORKSHOP

On Orientation Day, our Student Well-Being Worker

Ricky Cawley is hosting a ‘Starting School’ session for

parents of incoming Prep students. The session, to be held

at the Tavern from 9.15am – 11.15am, will be run by

CentaCare Family Services and will focus on feelings

around the transition to school, common concerns parents

have about their child starting school and practical ideas

for how to make the transition easier.

Following the session, parents are encouraged to attend

the 2019 Prep Information session at the school from

11.45 -12.30pm, followed by a BBQ lunch.

ENGRAVED BRICK FUNDRAISER

Information regarding the opportunity for families to

order an Engraved Brick is attached to the Newsletter

today. Families or students can elect to purchase an

engraved brick to be laid as part of our entrance area on

Raglan St.

Bricks can be computer engraved with names or can have

a copy of a hand drawn picture by students.

Cost of a brick is $25 with $5 going to the school for

each brick ordered.

Payment can be made through the Office before

the end of the year, or can be added to your

family account to be paid for in 2019.

Please contact the school if you need more than

one order form if you are planning to order more

than one brick.

CHURCH PARKING

We have been contacted by the St. Andrews Uniting Church re school parents parking in the grounds and

using the private driveway to access this area. We are aware that this is a very safe area to park and get out

for those with pre-schoolers and toddlers

School families are asked to consider using the highway parking areas or the Raglan St. parking areas.

Thank you.

PARENTS, VOLUNTEERS AND FRIENDS

Following our latest PVF Meeting, the committee would like the following items noted:-

There will be a Family BBQ/Picnic Night to farewell Mr. J on Thursday 13th December from

6.30pm. The BBQ will be available for use (BYO meat) or families can choose to bring along their

own tea. Games and equipment will be out for the children and parents to use if they would like.

Each year PVF provide an Afternoon Tea for Staff as a way of acknowledging the work put in

throughout the year. If you are able to assist with a small donation of food, it would be much

appreciated. Please contact Kelly Gwin/Tanya Czuczman by Friday December 7th.

Christmas Raffle – we will again be conducting a Christmas Raffle – to be drawn at the end of year

concert on Wednesday 19th December. Families are asked to donate an item to go towards a number

of hampers that will be made up. Raffle tickets for hampers have been sent home with the Newsletter

today. Tickets and Hamper items are required by Thursday December 14th.

THANK YOU & FAREWELL DINNER FOR MR J.

The School Council and school community are organising an evening to say thank you and farewell to Mr J

on Saturday the 8th of December at the Axedale Tavern. People are welcome to book a table and enjoy a meal

on the evening. The formal proceedings of the night will begin at 8pm and will be quite short (Mr J’s request!)

Further information will be provided in the next week. As there is a Family BBQ/Picnic night planned for

students and Mr J on Thursday 13th December, it is hoped that the evening at the Tavern is for adults only.

TERM DATES 2019

Term 1: 25th Book Pack pick up day

29th January (Teachers resume)

30th January (Students) to 5th April

Term 2: 23rd April (Tuesday) to 28th June

Term 3: 15th July to 20th September

Term 4: 7th October to 20th December

FRESH FRUIT FRIDAY

Thank you to our volunteers for cutting up fruit each Friday.

Friday 7th December – Hannelie Schutte & Tanya Czuczman

Friday 14th December – Samantha Condon & Jodie Black

These dates will finalise Fresh Fruit Friday for the year. Thank you to all the parents who have helped out

during the year by cutting up the fruit and helping to ensure our students are trying new fruits and enjoying

eating healthy food.

BREAKFAST CLUB

Thank you to our volunteers.

Tuesday 11th December – Hannelie

Thursday 13th December – Liz H

These dates will finalise Breakfast Club for the year. Thank

you to all the parents who have helped out during the year by

supporting our Breakfast Club.

MICHAEL GROSS PARENTING RESOURCES

Our school is a member of Parenting Ideas. Visit

www.parentingideas.com.au

This week’s attached article is “Developing a resilience

mindset”

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

Behind every child who believes in themselves, is a parent

who believed first.

JOKE OF THE WEEK

Question: Why did the weatherman bring a bar of soap to

work?

Answer: He was predicting showers.

Gaye Saunders

Acting Principal

FORMS TO BE RETURNED OR ORGANISED AT SCHOOL

2019 PARENT PAYMENT FORMS – Return forms by 7th December

ENGRAVED BRICK ORDER FORM – Forms due by Tuesday 18th December

COMMUNITY NEWS

KINDER ENROLMENT FORMS

We have enrolment forms for 2019 Kinder and Pre-Kinder available at the school office.