Monday 17th - Friday 21st March

• Whole school swimming lessons - see XUNO 

Friday 21st March

• Harmony Day

Sunday 23rd March

• Garage Sale - See Fundraising section below

Monday 24th March

• Curriculum Day - no students at school

Tuesday 25th March

• Parent Teacher Interviews - 3/4C and 5/6B - Bookings to be made on XUNO
• Ride 2 School Day - See Below

Wednesday 26th March

• Parent Teacher Interviews - P/1J, 1/2A and 2/3H - Bookings to be made on XUNO

Friday 28th March

• Castlemaine District Sports Carnival - 3-6 - See  Xuno

Monday 31st March

• Assembly - 2:45pm - School Captains/Vice Captains

Friday 4th April

• Last day of school - 2:30pm finish

Tuesday 22nd April

• First Day of Term 2

Thursday 24th April

• ANZAC Day Assembly - Led by 5/6B - 2:30pm

Friday 25th April

• ANZAC Day Public Holiday

Principal's Report - Winters Flat Primary School

Welcome Back BBQ

It was fantastic to see such a great turnout and wonderful atmosphere at our Welcome Back BBQ. Thank you to everyone who attended and helped make the event a success. A special thank you to our volunteers, including the dedicated members of the Community Engagement Sub-Committee. A particular shout-out to Kirsty for her outstanding work in organising the sausages and all the little details that made the BBQ run so smoothly. It’s events like these that really help to build a strong sense of community within our school.

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NAPLAN

We would like to remind parents and carers that the NAPLAN testing for Grade 3 and Grade 5 students will take place on Wednesday, 12th March (Reading and Writing) and Thursday, 13th March (Conventions of Language and Numeracy). NAPLAN will be undertaken digitally via a lock-down browser, with the exception of Grade 3 Writing, which will still be done on paper. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or concerns regarding NAPLAN.

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Chewton PS Relocation

As previously communicated, Chewton Primary School students will be relocating to Winters Flat Primary School on days of Extreme Fire Danger in the Mount Alexander Local Government Area (LGA). It has been encouraging to see our students being so inclusive and showing ‘Care for Others’ for the Chewton PS students during recess and lunch breaks. We will continue to inform you ahead of time when Chewton PS will be joining us here at Winters Flat.

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School Council

Thank you to all of the parents who have nominated for School Council. We have received the same number of nominations as we have vacancies, so a ballot will not be required. I will be in touch with those people who nominated and look forward to announcing the new School Council following the AGM.

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Curriculum Day – Monday 24^th March

As communicated earlier this week, School Council have approved a Curriculum Day on Monday 24^th March 2025. Students will not be required at school on this day.

Unfortunately, I have had notification from OSHClub that they will not be able to provide full day care on this day.

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Meet and Greet Interviews

This is an opportunity for parents and carers to provide information to teachers about their children that they may not know about and how they have settled into the term. Children are welcome to attend. Bookings via Xuno or contact your child’s teacher if booked out.

Tuesday 25th March - 3/4C and 5/6B - 3:30pm - 6:30pm

Wednesday 26th March - P/1J, 1/2A and 2/3H - 3:30pm - 6:00pm

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Happy Birthday to the following people …

Jude E - 11 in the fourth week of January

Ava - 11 in the first week of February

Ned - 10 in the second week of February

Otis - 7 in the second week of February

Miranda - 6 in the second week of February

Lenny P - 10 in the second week of February

Isobel - 10 in the second week of February

Sam B - 7 in the third week of February

Izzy - 10 in the third week of February

Odetta – 11 in the fourth week of February

Rex - 11 in the fourth week of February

Hip Hip: Hooray

Hip Hip: Hooray

Hooray: Hip Hip

Thank you for staying informed about the happenings at Winters Flat PS. We appreciate your ongoing support and involvement in our school community! As always, if you have any questions on concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out or drop in to the office!

Ash Harvey

Acting Principal

Local Excursion & Media Permission Notes

Please return these to the office asap. If you have misplaced these forms, please see the office for a replacement.

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Whole School Swimming Program 2025 – 17th – 21st  March inclusive

We will be running our swimming program again this year in Term 1. Swimming is part of our curriculum, and all students are expected to participate. The students will be graded and put into their appropriate swim levels. The program will run everyday for a week from 17th – 21st March so students will need their bathers and towel every day. 

Permissions and payments to be made through XUNO. Please see the office if a hard copy is required. Please let the office know if you would like to use School Saving Bonus or CSEF to pay for the excursion.

Families are asked to complete a short survey about their child/ren's swimming ability to assist with grouping into classes. Please complete the survey asap.

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School Photo Day – March 14^th

Photo day is fast approaching.  Please complete your photo order forms and return to school.  If you would like a sibling order form, please call at the office to collect. 

Camps, Sports & Excursions Fund (CSEF)

CSEF is provided by the Victorian Government to assist eligible families to cover the costs of school trips, camps and sporting activities.

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If you hold a valid means-tested concession card or are a temporary foster parent, you may be eligible for CSEF. A special consideration category also exists for asylum seeker and refugee families. The allowance is paid to the school to use towards expenses relating to camps, excursions or sporting activities for the benefit of your child.

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The annual CSEF amount per student is:

• $154 for primary school students
• $256 for secondary school students
• New applicants should contact the school office to obtain a CSEF application form or download from the website below.
• If you applied for CSEF at your child's school last year, you do not need to complete an application form this year unless there has been a change in your family circumstances. 
• You only need to complete an application form if any of the following changes have occurred:
• new student enrolments; your child has started or changed schools this year.
• changed family circumstances; such as a change of custody, change of name, concession card number, or new siblings commencing this year.

Check with the school office if you are unsure.

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Volunteering at school in 2025

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Sushi on Fridays

We are continuing Sushi on Fridays again this year. Here is a reminder of the steps you need to do to order Sushi.

Your child/s class must be updated to their 2025 class before you order.

1. Go to www.schoollunchonline.com.au to register your family
2. Choose ‘My orders’ and select ‘Create order‘
3. Select the date of the Friday you wish to order for
4. Add items to order by clicking on the ‘tick’
5. Select ‘add to bag’
6. Review order and check it is all correct, then click ‘next’
7. Choose how you want to pay and then select ‘submit’

      *Update your billing details under the tab ‘my account’

*Pay as you go or top up your account regularly

*No minimum order or long term commitment

*Order ahead up to any time within the current term

Orders need to be made by 5pm on Thursday to ensure order is placed for Sushi at lunchtime on Friday.

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XUNO

If any families are having issues with logging onto XUNO, or trouble navigating the app, please contact the office.

Currently, the app gives you access to: 

• Messages (send and receive messages to your child’s teachers)
• Timetable
• Calendar
• News
• Attendance (to add a reason for an absence on the day of absence, or to provide a reason for previous absences)
• Events, Camps & Excursions (and the ability to approve events)
• Payments (to pay for any camps/excursions)
• Parent Teacher Interview Bookings (ability to book)

We encourage all families to be regularly logging into XUNO, either via the website or the app.

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Beleza Update

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Karen Mahoney & Kitty Ward

Office

Flower Bulb Fundraiser

Our Annual Bulb Fundraiser is back!

Orders are placed online and are shipped directly to your door. Please share with family, friends, neighbours and strangers alike. 40% of profits goes to our school, which will be put towards decobable readers and books for the library.

Order here.

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Winters Flat Garage Sale Fundraiser

We will be holding a garage sale fundraiser on the 23rd of March. Please see the below images on how our parent community can help.

If you would like to book a stall, you can fing the booking form here.

We would love some volunteers to join us at our working bee on Sunday the 16th of March from 10am - 12pm.

Jobs that need doing are:

• Putting up plywood panels – please bring ladders, drill or impact diver
• Installing lid bottle art work in Creekview
• Sorting back storage area for garage sale
• Weeding sensory garden
• General clean up

Year 3/4C took a walk along the creek near school to participate in Clean Up Australia Day. They found a lot of rubbish which they then sorted upon return to school. This will also support us in renewing our ResourceSmart (RSS) waste module.

Have you noticed Sunny, our school wellbeing dog, is changing colour?

These are his parents and apparently Australian Cobber dogs can change colour as they mature and grow adult hair. Now that Sunny had turned one he is developing his adult hair. Let’s wait, watch and see what colour he ends up! Happy birthday Sunny!

This week in the Kitchen and Garden..........

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What we're cooking in the kitchen this fortnight...

• Pita bread
• Sweet Onion Filo Parcels
• Greek Chickpea and Silverbeet Stew
• Greek Salad
• Quince and apple cobbler

Yum!!!

Chefs of the week:

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From the Garden:

Gardeners of the week

3/4C

5/2 – Maeva

19/2 – whole class

5/3 Hunter, Taylor, Izzy

2/3H

12/2 – Velvet, Rupert

26/2 – Felix, Sid

5/6B

19/2  - Makenna, Louisa, Nova, Annabelle, Athene

3/3 – Archie, Frankie, Tanmay

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Kitchen volunteers:

We always love kitchen helpers in our cooking classes!

They are held fortnightly on Mondays (even weeks - 5/6B), and every Wednesday (even weeks - 3/4C; odd weeks - 2/3H), between 11:25am & 1:25pm.

The Prep/1 and 1/2 classes will have a special cooking class each term - dates will be announced in the coming weeks.

Kitchen helpers for these classes would be particularly helpful - please let the office know if you'd like to volunteer!

What you can expect from a class:

Students work in groups to make seasonal dishes, using produce from our garden. Once a group finishes preparing their dish, they clean up their bench, do dishes, and set the tables. Around 1:00pm, we all sit down together and share the meal.

Volunteers will need to sign in via the visitors log in the office and show their WWCC. Please contact the office if you have any questions or would like to volunteer! 

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