It's hard to believe that, yet again, we are at the end of another term. As I cast my mind back over the many achievements of the past few months, I am reminded of how it takes a collective effort to help bring about growth and improvement. 

You only need step inside our school gates and spend a little time to see the busyness and activity of students, staff, families and volunteers, all contributing to the education of our young people. I genuinely thank each and every one of them for all they do to help make our school a happy, safe and productive place to be. 

Students in Years 3-6 have recently completed the annual Check-In Assessments, which are conducted by the NSW Department of Education to help schools gauge the effectiveness of teaching and learning priorities and to guide future directions. We look forward to analysing the results when they become available. I thank the students for taking on these assessments with such positive and engaged attitudes, as they all simply took the tests in their strides.

Our annual Years 3-6 school camp was held last week, with students from Bobs Farm joining children and staff from several other small schools to tour The Rocks and Taronga Zoo, staying overnight in the historic convict prison, now campsite on Cockatoo Island, right in the middle of Sydney Harbour. With million dollar views, cafes and glamping tents nowadays, it was a distinct contrast to the stories of hardship and tragedy that we learnt about during our stay. I was sincerely impressed by the participation and enthusiasm shown by our students, but also of the prior knowledge they brought to the experience, clearly the result of their history lessons and discussions back at school and home. I congratulate all who were involved and sincerely thank Mrs Hodgson for taking time away from her family and class to accompany us on the adventure. Thanks also to 'Ben 10', as he's now known, for supporting us during the camp. Meanwhile, I thank Mrs Burns, Miss Kris, Miss Ella and Mrs Moore for 'holding down the fort' so to speak, back at school. We hope you enjoy sharing in some of our experiences through the photo collection later in this newsletter. 

As recounted previously, our skipping program, heartily led by the indefatigable Mrs Parker, has been a regular highlight of the daily agenda this year. We are looking forward to wrapping up this term with our Jump Off on Friday morning. Families are invited and encouraged to join us, not just to watch but to participate, so please come prepared to work up a sweat! 

If you can volunteer an hour or two on the October long weekend, I know the P&C and I would love for you to join us at the Bunnings BBQ at Taylors Beach. Despite the delicious aromas you'll no doubt be lured in by, we'll be nice and easy to spot under our stunning new Bobs Farm Gazebo! Thank you again to the P&C for their fundraising efforts and for purchasing this for our school. We know it will be put to good use for many activities over the years to come. 

I hope you all enjoy some family time over the next couple of weeks. We look forward to welcoming the students back to school on Tuesday 13th October. 

Mrs B