We were able to celebrate our official Kindergarten opening on the 12^th March with the Deputy Premier and Minister for Education and Training handing over the building.  Having the opportunity to share this event with those directly involved reinforced how big a project this has been.  A big thank you to our students particularly Skye, Broady, Riss and Flynn for their roles on the day.  We are hopeful that there may be more opportunities to continue to upgrade and improve our learning spaces sooner rather than later.

I was thoroughly impressed by the courage displayed by several of our students at the recent swimming carnivals.  Not because they won a race but because they took an opportunity to challenge themselves by having a go.  Some were motivated to help their house gain points, some to support their friends but other to prove a point to themselves. This internal drive and self-motivation are powerful assets for anyone to have. I would like to wish our Inter-High Swimming participants all the best for their upcoming carnival next Monday.

Similarly our selected primary school athletes from will be competing at the TPSSA Athletics this Friday. I know that these students too are keen to represent us as a school and we look forward to some exciting results.

We are into week 8 already and this term seems to have gone very quickly.  It reinforced to me how important it is to make the most of opportunities when they arise.  I made this point at our assembly on Monday as it is clear to me that some of our students are not as prepared as they could be.  Too often we see students leave things or put them off “until tomorrow”.  We want them to act today and make their time count and to aspire to be their best with every activity, in every lesson, every day. 

One of our expectations at Lilydale is that each student will “Be a Learner”.

To be successful they need to understand that learning is a habit.  It is just like training at something they love.  For some it’s the repetition of skills at sports training, for others the rehearsal of movements or lines in the performing arts and for others it may be practising processes and skills that you use in the workplace.  Above all, wherever this happens, those who practise consistently are the ones who usually have the most sustained success.

Being a successful learner is not just a skill for school but a skill for life.  For those students currently in grade 4 it is predicted that you will have up to 20 different jobs throughout your working life.  Not just 20 jobs but 20 jobs across multiple organisations.

They will need to be able to learn in a range of environments; some may be online learning while some may be workplace training, some may be through modules which take hours while others may be courses which take more than a year.

Whatever they choose to do they will need to be able to ask the right questions and use the information provided to further their understanding.  Students will need the ability to accept constructive feedback and modify the way they do things.  Sometimes they will need to retrain the way that they do things altogether.

Fundamentally growth and improvement do not occur without choosing to have a go.  Courageous people have a go even when they know that previously they may not have been successful or when they haven’t had experience in a new setting.  No one is successful all the time – no one!  We want people to enjoy their successes and celebrate the successes of the other students but more importantly learn from their mistakes.  Often, we learn more from our mistakes than we do from our successes.

Can I please remind parents who are walking their children to class that we need you to park in the general car park and reserve the drop off zone for those parents who are applying the stop drop and go process.  This works really well in our new space when we all follow the rules.

I wanted to take the opportunity to wish all our families a safe and happy Easter and holiday period.  Students finish on Wednesday 31^st March.  This coincides with our Colour Run day so it should be a fantastic way to finish up the term.  Teachers are moderating with staff from other schools on the Thursday which is why it is a student free day on April 1^st.  To ensure students get their holidays and Easter breaks they return to school on Wednesday 21^st April.

Colin Pearson – Principal

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School Banking is a fun, interactive and engaging way to help teach your child the importance of saving. Children who deposit money into their Youthsaver account through School Banking will earn an exciting reward everytime they reach 10 deposits.

The rewards available during 2021 are: 

School Banking is also a great fundraiser for our school. Our school receives a Regular Savers Contribution of $5 for every 10 deposits processed per student as well as an Annual Contribution which is based on the number of students who made at least one School Banking deposit in the prior year. For more information about contribution payments, visit www.commbank.com.au/sbinfo .

Getting involved in School Banking is easy!

All you need to get involved in the School Banking program is a Commonwealth Bank Youthsaver account. You can open an account for your child in one of two ways: 

1. Online

Visit www.commbank.com.au/schoolbanking  and click on the link to open a Youthsaver account.

2. In branch

Visit a Commonwealth Bank branch with identification for yourself and your child, like a driver’s licence and birth certificate.

If your child has an existing Commonwealth Bank Youthsaver account they can start banking straight away. They just need to bring their deposit in every week on School Banking day using their Dollarmites deposit wallet.

If you would like to know more about School Banking, please ask for a 2021 School Banking program parent guide from the school office or visit www.commbank.com.au/schoolbanking