Chewton Primary School

Newsletter 23rd June 2023

Chewton Primary School is situated on Djaara Country. 

We acknowledge the Dja Dja Wurrung people, the custodians and caretakers  of the land. We thank them for the care they have taken and continue to take of Country: the rivers, mountains, trees and animals. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging.

We commit to Be Brave and Make Change. We will be a voice for generations

What's coming up


7 June 150th Anniversary celebration meeting:  ff

23 June Final Day of Term 2:30pm finish

Mid year Reports Sent home

Whole School Cook up

9 July Gathering for new families 2:30 Red Hill

10 July First day of Term 3

28 July Meeting Place

4 August National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children's Day

11 August Meeting Place

12-20 August National Science Week
 21-23 August Grade 3/4 Camp

24 August Book Week Parade 

25 August Meeting Place
 1 September Tennis and Cricket Day Grade 3-6 

8 September  Meeting Place

September: Date TBC Boomerang Camp Grade 2

⭐️ Hello! This is an invite to any parents who have either enrolled, or are considering enrolling their wee one into Chewton Primary Prep in 2024.

A few of us Mums have realised there’s quite a few families who are interested, and we’d love to gather in and meet up. 

Sun 9th July 2.30pm Red Hill Hotel Garden.  Taryn and Laura

 

* If it’s raining, we have an undercover area for kids to play - easy walk across the road to our place ⭐️

Maths Learning Expo

We had a fantastic turn out of family to see the students' Arcade Games and Car ramps that were made as their Rich and Authentic Maths learning this term. What an amazing amount of learning has gone into this! Congratulations everyone!

We would love to use them on our 150th Day as well, so keep them safe!

School Values

Community Kindness Respect


Thanks to students, families and staff for having a say in our school values. 

Community Kindness and Respect were the three most selected, 

with Creativity as our overarching way of learning together.

Staff are working with students next term on fine tuning a matrix of expected behaviours that has been developed following everyone's input regarding behaviours you would like to see replaced.  The matrix will be a simple way we can live by our school values every day, in all areas, with some particular behaviours for inside and others for outside. 

School Uniform

From now till the end of Term 3

Every Friday uniform is optional

Monday-Thursday Uniform: please make sure your child is wearing full uniform Monday-Thursday. There are plenty of free second hand jumpers in the office

Staffing

We would like to welcome Margot Feast as our new Mental Health and Wellbeing Leader. Margot will be working with staff, students and families to support social and emotional learning (Kimochis), wellbeing concerns for students and families as well as connecting students and families to external services. Margot will be working Wednesday, Thursday and Fridays.

Margot is also taking the Hands On Learning Program at school on Tuesdays, where a small group of student work with her on hands on projects one day each week. Next term sees a new intake of students in the program.

Thanks to J who worked with students in the Hands On Learning Program earlier this term. 

We are also lucky to have Scott Ramsay as our new school counsellor. He will be able to work with students and families and will be at school all day each Thursday. 

Bernadette is on Long Service Leave for Term 3 (taking the opportunity for some overseas travel!) and Julie Parker will be Acting Principal for the term. Julie met staff and students on Tuesday and we welcome her to our wonderful school community.

Kimochis

This week's Kotawaza: 

It's okay to be mad, 

but it's not okay to be mean.

Mad cooling down.pdf
Copy of Kimochis_ECC_Week-13-Materials09162019.pdf

Learning about the Kulin Seasons with Serena

150th anniversary celebrations Sunday October 15th 10am-2pm

Ingrid is leading this work with Julie Parker who will be Acting Principal in Term 3.

The Foundry Band will play for us at Memorial Park, followed by a parade from to the school , with stalls, a historical display, and a showcase of student learning. 

If you are a past student, or know someone who went to school at Chewton, our students would love to interview them on school life in 'the old days'!

In Term 3 our Inquiry will be History focused and students will showcase their learning on the day. 

Community Notices

Photo by John Ellis

Connecting Country

Sponsor a community planting day: Seeking YOUR help for 2023 National Tree Day

The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the next best time is now, and we need your help!

We are partnering with local Landcare groups and Mount Alexander Shire Council to deliver a National Tree Day event on Sunday 30 July 2023. The day will be open to everyone to participate and will include planting indigenous plants for habitat and learning more about our local landscape.

The tree planting event aims to empower the younger generations of our community to take direct action in healing the land and tackling climate change. This is what they have asked for. Mount Alexander Shire Council recently surveyed young people in our local area. Our young people reported they want opportunities to plant trees, make homes for wildlife and to undertake practical actions to address climate change.

More info: https://connectingcountry.org.au/sponsor-a-community-planting-day-seeking-your-help-for-2023-national-tree-day/

Donate here: https://www.givenow.com.au/fundatree

Sensory Sanctuary is a new neurodiversity arts festival to be held in the beautiful small country town of Castlemaine, 1.5 hours from Melbourne and easily accessible by train, during the July school holidays June 24 – July 7.

What is neurodiversity? Neurodiversity is the acceptance and celebration that different people's brains work differently to one another's, especially in relation to conditions like Autism and ADHD.

So, is this festival just for people with Autism and ADHD? No, the workshop facilitators are 70% Autistic and neurodivergent and we are hoping to develop the festival as a neurodivergent-dominant space but we also don’t want to segregate ourselves from the rest of our communities. These will be awesome school holiday activities for all to enjoy. The festival seeks to increase the opportunities for neurodivergent children, youth and adults to engage in activities alongside the rest of their communities.

Most events will be held at Castlemaine Goods Shed right next to the train station and Castlemaine Botanical Gardens which is just a short walk away.

Enjoy 100 activities over 2 weeks, with activities suited to children, youth, adults, sensory avoiders and sensory seekers.

The festival is being organised by autistic artist, Louise ‘Rockabilby’ Cooper, who is currently studying a Graduate Certificate in Autism and has over seventeen years experience working with neurodivergent community.

https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1052367