On duty today as I watched the children, a gentle breeze blew and the autumn leaves of our gorgeous trees started to fall. We are six weeks into the school year, and it is exciting to see, hear and feel our staff and students connecting to each other and their classes.

Our Year 3 and Year 5 students have been busy completing their NAPLAN assessments, and we couldn't be prouder of their efforts and to you for supporting their attendance.

Our Party in the Playground was a wonderful opportunity to connect as a wider community and next week another chance to connect will be at the 3 to 6 Athletics Carnival where we will see our newly elected House Captains cheer on and support the participants. To see the Year 6 children prepare and give their speeches was fabulous and I congratulate all of the students who were brave enough to take on this challenge.

This week we also held our first Coffee Meet to give our families the chance to come and have a casual chat about what is working well at Glenorchy Primary and what we can do to improve. Thank you to the parents who came along, we loved talking to you. We are hopeful now that we have had our first Coffee Meet that more parents/carers will come along in Term 2.

What we heard:

• We value the principal and staff being visible and approachable and connecting with families and children.
• We want to find ways to connect with other parents in our class.
• We are happy with school.
• We think more people will come to Coffee Meet, if they know it is not an ongoing commitment and that it is friendly with coffee and afternoon tea.
• We will find out more about the School Lunch Program in 2025.
• We are all still learning how to use Seesaw and parents want more posts in upper primary.
  

The EAL team and I met this week to plan opportunities to help our wonderful community continue to flourish. We know many families are currently fasting for Ramadan and how important this cultural time is for them and our community. We will be sharing many cultural stories this year through our newsletter and on Seesaw.

We have an exciting plan for Harmony Week which includes YOU! We want you thinking about “A word or phrase that YOU love in your own language”, we will be asking you to place it on a sticky note in the foyer from Monday 24^th March.

In the theme of Harmony Week, let’s celebrate our Glenorchy Primary School inclusiveness, respect and the ways we help each other feel safe and belong to our school. It is great to see so many STAR value awards at assembly each week.

It is a joy to work at Glenorchy Primary School, thank you for being so kind and helping me feel a part of the community.