Welcome back to all families for what will be another productive term at Fairfield Primary School. I hope all students and staff were able to recharge and prepare for the term ahead. We completed some minor works over the holidays, and our cleaners worked hard to ensure that the children had ‘spring cleaned’ rooms to settle back into. You may have noticed that in the entrance we have been kindly gifted some beautiful cabinets and original war service artefacts from the Fairfield RSL. We are very honoured to be housing these as custodians for the Fairfield community. Unfortunately though, we have misplaced a rare set of field glasses/binoculars. We would like your help to see if they haven’t got mixed up accidently in a child’s school bag and have found their way to a house. We would appreciate their return and hope that someone will find them. If so, just return them to the office. Much appreciated.

Grade 1/2 Concert—What a Performance!

Congratulations to all our wonderful grade 1/2 actors who took to the stage at the Darebin Arts Centre to perform in the Alice I Wonderland concert. There have been many positive comments about the production and it was very special. From the audience, each scene looked like a page from beautiful picture storybook on the stage. It was truly beautiful.

Thank you to the year 1/2 team, specialists and all teachers who have supported the event. There is so much work that goes in to creating the vision, the behind the scenes  work, rehearsals, supporting the children emotionally and developing the capacity of every child to play their part and to be part of the whole.

Also, a very special thank you goes to the parents—in particular Amy Rogers—for her costume design and creation expertise…how privileged are we to have a parent like Amy!

Buildings and Grounds Update

The Buildings and Grounds Committee met this week and one item discussed was how to protect the garden beds of Kaan’s Winya. We need to establish some growth over the next few months and this is proving difficult with the wonderful enthusiasm that our children are embracing the space but unfortunately, damaging the garden beds. So we will be cordoning off the areas where we do not want the children to run and see whether we can protect the garden beds enough to enable some established growth. You will notice this barrier in the next few weeks.

A Warm Welcome to Rebecca—Foundation B Teacher

Welcome to Rebecca Burnham who is joining us this term and teaching Foundation Class B. Rebecca has already met many of the parents and has settled the class into a productive beginning of the term. It was great to see parents coming along to the morning tea to meet Rebecca.

2017 Planning

This term we will be commencing our placement and organisation of classes for 2017. Already many parents have been seeking information about this and I do ask that if you have a request for a friendship group for your child, that you put this in writing and email it (attention to Paul Wallace) to the school or leave it in a brief letter, at the office. Please do not request teachers. As for every year, staff will change and the complete staffing profile is not finalised for 2017.

Our teachers do take considerable time working through groupings of students that ensure a balanced class that has a range of abilities, gender, recommended friendship groups and opportunities for social group expansion.