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

A BIG congratulations to Asha Buzza who attended Regionals on Wednesday after he achieved great results from District and Division. Asha placed 5th and will now compete in a State level. AMAZING.

Asha is also attending the 2025 All Schools Cross Country champs at Bundoora this Saturday ay 10am in the under 14 3km race, we look forward to hearing how he goes.

Well done Asha, all that training is definitely paying off and we are thrilled that you represent Carrum so proudly. We know you will go far and look forward to hearing how you go next. For now, keep running and look after those legs!

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.

Marine Ambassador Newsletter 

Last Term, the Marine Ambassadors went to Namajira Park in Clayton South, and learnt about storm water catchments. Which stops rubbish from entering the wetlands. The MA team (Marine Ambassadors team) also tested the wetland water to see what the water quality was like. They came back with great results because the water was very clean. The MA team had to identify different frog calls, like the pobblebonk which you can find in our local wetlands. Lastly, our Marine Ambassadors went ponding and found a bloodworm, a dragon fly, nymph and a water flea. All of this indicated that Clayton local wetlands are clean. It emphasises the importance of regularly checking and maintaining  our local water ways.

We thank Kerry and Miss Shew for taking us and our parents for driving, we had a really great day out!

By the Marine Ambassadors, Laura, Will and Jordan.

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!

TeamKids has an exciting challenge for Term 2

Book NOW   www.teamkids.com.au/venues

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A program currently being offered by the Swinbrne Univesity Psychology Clinic - "One Step at a Time Program: Parent Support for Childhood Anxiety". 

Local Community Events, things to try and Sports Clubs