Principal's Message.

I would like to extend a very warm welcome to our local school community. Here at Sherbrooke Community School we strive to educate our students to become global citizens who understand their place in the world and who have a passion for learning. As a Prep - Year 12 school we endeavour to create an environment where students of all ages can learn and grow together and here we transition our young people into the next stage of their education as seamlessly as possible. Our small class sizes allow students to have an opportunity to learn in a very supportive environment where their achievements are celebrated across the whole school.

What's Happening

Sister School Visit

We are very excited to announce a visit from our Kunshan Sister School, Kunshan Loujiang
Experimental School. At this point we have been told to expect 20 year seven and eight students with their Principal (Mr Zhang) and English teacher. They will be here for seven days in late July or early August. The exact date is yet to be confirmed. Al, Leanne and I had a wonderful time visitng them in November last year and plan to return during the school holidays this year in September. They will find our school very different to theirs. They have  beautiful buildings of two and three stories with polished porcelain tiles and every conceivable resource available to them.

I would like to request help from our school community to provide homestay for these students. If you are able to provide accomodation for one or two it would be wonderful. They will be very shy and overwhelmed by the experience so although it is an added imposition we would like to try to have them in pairs if we could so they are not too homesick on their own. If we can't do all pairs I am sure the older ones will be okay on their own if you can only accomodate one.

Please let me know if you can help. This will be an unforgettable experience for these young people.

Round-Tables

Students are beginning to collect examples of work  for them to use in their round tables for this year. This is a very successful method of demonstrating a particular skill they have mastered and is an eagerly awaited event by those parents who have previously participated. This is a long process which completes in Term three every year. For those new parents who have not been involved  before it will be a wonderful experience to witness your child teaching a skill and demonstrating their competence in a particular area.

School Fees

A very, very big thank you to all families that have paid their school fees.  We really appreciate your promptness! School fees are a big part of providing the essential resources we need to deliver the curriculum to your children. We factor these fees into our budget every term. 

Also it is vitally important that secondary students have the texts requested on the book list so they are not disadvantaged in any way. 

Please see us at the office if you need help with school fees. It is very easy to arrange payments over a period of time.

Updates!!

First term is short this year because of the placement of Easter.

Please put these term dates in your diary.

Term 1: Thursday 31/1/13 - Thursday 28/3/13
Term 2: Monday 15/4/13  -  Friday 28/6/13
Term 3: Monday 15/7/13  -  Friday 20/9/13
Term 4: Monday 7/10/13  -  Friday 20/12/13

Swimming Carnival Tuesday 5th March

Bushfire Readiness
As a school on the register for being in a high fire danger zone I am required to have a very specific and up to date plan for managing the school population during a bushfire threat. That plan is available at the school and is regularly updated by me and approved at Regional Level. Our Safer Place (Art Studio) was upgraded last year and is now compliant with the code requirements. This is our evacuation point for unexpected events. Should a Code Red Day be declared the school would be closed to all students and staff included. You would be given ample notice prior to this happening.

Canteen
As with all Victorian public schools we often rely on the generosity of volunteers to help us run smoothly. At the moment we are looking for enthusiastic and reliable people to assist us in the canteen to help to provide nutritious food to our students. Even if you could just help out for one lunch time per week this would be a great help to us.If you are willing and able please contact Anne Broadribb for further details.


To see all newsletters for 2012 - 2013
Please Visit the Newsletters page under 'About Us' or click the link here: Newsletters. 

School Social Events

The School Council will be planning events to enable parents to meet and talk with other parents. There will be fundraising activities and working bees throughout the year so please keep checking the website and the newsletter for events as they come up.

Sausage Sizzle

We frequently get the opportunity to have a sausage sizzle in Ferntree Gully at the Woolworths store. We would be very pleased if we could have some volunteers for the day. If you are willing to turn a few sausages for an hour or so when we have our next (date tba) please leave your name with the office or your child's classroom teacher. It is always fun and gives us just a little extra to spend on resources for the students. Last year we had one on a very windy day and it was very funny as we needed many arms to hold onto all the bits that were trying to blow away.

Working Bee Thankyou

A very big thankyou goes out to all those wonderful parents and children who worked at the school for fridays working bee. An enormous amount of work was completed and it is great to see our buildings looking so clean after a good high pressure cleaning. The weather was kind to us after being so threatening during the day and we were able to get a couple of hours of concentrated work done before dark.

Well done and a heartfelt thankyou to all who participated.

Anne Broadribb.

Grounds & Building News:

We have several working bees during the year and these are usually held once per term. We are always grateful for the hard work done by our supporters at these events and it helps us to keep our grounds looking tidy and gets those little jobs completed that are always needing to be done around the place. We are very happy to have a new sheep shelter to keep the sheep dry prior to shearing time and this was done by one of our parents, Ben Harris who did a wonderful job with some help from students.

Dates will be set in the near future so please watch out for them.
A list outlining the work planned for the given day will be posted closer to the date.

Hector! 

Hector has grown an enormous amount during the past year and his assessment date is rapidly approaching.He was 1 year old on Sunday 10th February. We will be very sad to see him go if he is accepted into full training. Leanne has indicated her willingness to raise another puppy and we are very happy to continue to support Guide Dogs Victoria in this way.- Hector!

Absence Notification System.

Last year we intorduced a new SMS absence notification to parents/guardians advising when a student has been marked as an unexplained absence. Parents are reminded that school commences at 9:00am every day and if their child is late or does not attend morning meeting they will be marked absent and you will get a text message informing you that your child was not seen in the hall.Students who are late must sign in at the office to avoid unneccessary messages to parents. For more information please click here: SMS Notification System.