Visiting Classes

One of my favourite parts of the day is when I visit different Junior School classes at the start of each day. As a voracious reader and passionate English and Literature teacher, I love listening to the children read and to watch them become more confident in their growing literacy skills. This week I had the pleasure of joining Ms Nolan’s Year 3 class where the students excitedly told me about the reading challenge they have been given — to practice reading every night of the week. The children are very proud of the growing number of nights they have read, and Ms Nolan confirmed that their reading skills are improving steadily because of this committed reading practice each night.

I encourage all students from Foundation to Year 12 to regularly practice their reading. It is an important life skill which helps in all areas of your learning.

House Activities

The House carnivals are always lots of fun. Last week, the Senior School students and staff had a fabulous day at Noble Park pool participating in the House swimming carnival. Under sunny skies, the students engaged in friendly competition and demonstrated lots of house spirit. Congratulations to Reid House for winning both the House Chant and the Swimming Competition.

This week I was lucky enough to be a judge in the Senior School House Visual Arts Competition. This year the students were challenged to draw one of our school values —respect. This is more difficult than it sounds. I am incredibly impressed by the variety of ways in which the students were able to visually represent respect. Congratulations to all who submitted entries in the competition. It was difficult to judge!

Buddy’s Birthday

This week we celebrated Buddy’s 1^st birthday. The birthday boy was honoured when the entire Junior School joined him online where everyone sang Happy Birthday to him. Later in the day, the staff gathered in the staff room to sing him Happy Birthday and to present him with a doggie cake. Buddy loved all the attention, but he was a very tired boy by the end of the day!

Parent Information Nights

It is always encouraging to see parents supporting their children by attending the various information nights held at school. Understanding what your children are doing at school and the rationale for the learning experiences provided is an extremely important part of the home/school learning partnership. Last week many parents and students attended the Year 9 Casey Challenge information night. The different aspects of this unique program were explained, and parent’s questions were answered. Thank you to all who attended.

Many parents and students also attended the Year 11 Debutante Ball information evening. While the Deb Ball is not a school run event, many Casey Grammar students are involved, and dancing lessons are held each week in the Casey Grammar School gym. Gauging by the attendance at this information night, there is certainly a lot of interest in the Deb Ball. It is encouraging to know the students are still keen to learn old fashioned dancing!

Traffic Around the School

The recent changes to traffic flow around the school have caused more delays as everyone endeavours to find the best route to school. I have kept the traffic authority informed of your concerns regarding the cycle of the traffic lights at the end of New Holland Drive. They are monitoring the traffic flow during peak periods each day and will continue to adjust the light cycle until it is correct.

I again thank you all for your patience during this difficult time of constant road closures and traffic flow changes.

Traffic Safety in the School

Now that our front car park has reopened, we are returning to normal traffic flow in the school. Please note, for safety reasons, the following rules apply:

• Cars and pedestrians should not enter the school through the same gates. The PAC carpark is for cars only. Pedestrians should not enter the school through the PAC car park gates. It is not safe to walk along the driveways of the PAC car park.
• Students should only alight from cars in the PAC car park once they have safely parked in parking bays. Please do not let your children jump out of cars in driveways or on roadways such as New Holland Drive.
• Parents and students walking to their cars in the PAC car park must adhere to the zebra crossings. Please do not walk through the traffic in the car park. Adhere to designated walkways and crossings.
• Drivers should not leave their vehicles when parked in the Kiss and Go sections of the PAC car park.
• All pedestrians should enter the school through the pedestrian gate located in the front car park.
• Please do not drive on nature strips or grassy verges abutting the school and definitely do not let your child alight the car on any of these roadway areas.

The safety of your children is of utmost importance to us. Please help us keep them safe through good role modelling and teaching them safe pedestrian behaviours in the car parks and around the school.

Fiona Williams

Principal