What a busy start to Term 3.

I hope everyone is staying warm and dry in this sudden burst of Winter weather.

Last Friday we were able to farewell Mr Langford in style. A great reflection from students, the school council and staff on his time at Carrum. It was great for our students to say goodbye and well done to Kai and Meila on their wonderful speech on behalf of the students.

    
            

Our Junior School Council also organised Pyjama Day and chose this year to donate to Guide Dogs Australia. This dress up day is a particular favourite of Carrum staff, and I know many students told me they just came straight to school after getting out of bed. I wonder if it made the morning hustle a bit easier for some families? It was great to see our teachers in their stylish and matching PJs too.

The school has been a bit quieter at the start of the week as our P-2 and Yr 5/6 students have spent the last three days participating in their first week of the swimming program. This program is a government initiative so all students can receive quality swimming and water safety education so primary school students can have the opportunity to learn how to swim and develop lifelong skills in water safety to reduce their risk of drowning and injury. This is an essential skill particularly for Carrum students to have living in a Bayside suburb close to water.

Congratulations to our Prep students as tomorrow they will celebrate 100 days of school. What an achievement and how fast this year has flown for our young students. I know the teachers have been busy planning for this day and have some great activities planned. As parents you must also be feeling very proud!

This week we have had some of our staff participate in Professional Learning to upskill in our whole school programs. We aim to have all staff educated in the Orton-Gillingham (OG) training which is an explicit synthetic phonics program that underpins our literacy programme and the Berry Street Educational Model. Both these courses are quite intensive, and our teachers are trained over four days. Like our students our teachers are continually learning to improve their practise which impacts student outcomes.

We have had our save the date flyer in the newsletter recently for the school performance, as a reminder this is September 8^th and 9^th stay tuned for costume requirements and more communication about official times.

Finally, a huge shout out to our Teamkids educators. Yesterday was Out of School Hours Educators Day and we are so grateful for the wonderful programmes Teamkids provide and the amazing support Renee and Declan give to our school.

Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend

Cassie Kennedy

STEAM This Term

In our STEAM sessions this term, in every year level, we are having fun working on our projects. 

In Prep, the students have been learning to code! They have been enjoying doing some offline coding and programming Blue Bots.

       

In Grade 1/2, they have been learning different ways to join cardboard together without using tape. Instead they use slots and tabs in creative ways to connect objects.
           
In Grade 3/4, they have been learning about Geocaching. This is like a treasure hunt using maps and coordinates. They are designing their own geocaches using recycled materials. This is so exciting and they have been loving it.

In Grade 5/6, they have been building vehicles in the Green Grand Prix Challenge. Using spheros as their engine, students are planning and prototyping the frame of their vehicle, trying to reduce the friction and air resistance against the cars.



Thanks
from your Steam Leaders
Lenny, Thomas and Georgia

As spring approaches, thousands of migratory shorebirds and seabirds return to Victoria from the Northern Hemisphere between August and October. These birds are an important part of our environment, but they also increase the risk of diseases such as H5N1 avian influenza (bird flu) entering Australia.

While the risk to people remains very low, bird flu can have serious consequences for poultry, including our much-loved school chickens. We all have an important role in helping keep them safe.

Over the past few weeks, we have noticed seagulls visiting our school every day to feed on food scraps left on the ground after recess and lunch. The more food that is left outside, the more wild birds are attracted to our school. Reducing the number of wild birds on our grounds is one simple way we can help protect our chickens.

How can we help?

Protect our chickens

• Please do not feed or encourage wild birds near the chicken enclosure.
• If you notice wild birds inside or around the chicken area, let a staff member know.

Support Nude Food

• Bring lunches with as little packaging as possible.
• Eat all your food where possible.
• Make sure no food is left on the ground after recess or lunch.

Keep our school clean

• Place all food scraps and rubbish in the correct bins.
• Help pick up any litter if you see it.

Respect wildlife

• Do not touch sick, injured or dead birds.
• Tell a staff member immediately if you find a sick or dead bird at school.

Practise good hygiene

• Wash your hands after being near animals and always before eating.

By keeping our school grounds clean and free of food scraps, we can discourage seagulls and other wild birds from visiting our school and reduce the chance of contact with our chickens.

Thank you for helping protect our animals, care for our environment and keep our school community safe.

Carrum Primary are involved in cleaning up our beautiful beach.
We would like to ask for volunteers for our Beach Patrol coming up on Sunday 26th of July at 10am. 

Hope to see you there, Miss Derix and team

Thanks to our amazing volunteers from our previous sessions, we couldn't do it without you!

Local Community Events, things to try and Sports Clubs