from the principal 5 28... · debunk fake psychics. the friendship lasted because houdini hid his...

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Issue No 5 - 28 April 2017

From the PrincipalThe following is the Principal's address to students at the first assembly for Term 2, held on Wednesday 19 April:

Friend. When we use that word what does it mean to us? It used to mean someone not related with whom you could trust and share things. The dictionary defines a friend as a person with whom one has a bond of mutual affection, exclusive of family or sexual relations.

When you are young, you meet friends through family, kindergarten, school, church or perhaps a club or activity you belong to. Now you can also ‘friend’ someone on Facebook and you can have

hundreds of so called ‘friends’ whom you have never met. You can add to this with ‘likes’ which is a whole new way of confirming a friendship. Earlier in my career when Facebook was fairly new, a girl told me very seriously she had 694 friends and neither of us batted an eyelid even though I was thinking very hard about what that meant. When I was younger we had friends and acquaintances the latter being people who we had met but did not have a strong relationship with and thus not someone we would call a friend.

Friends come in all different guises; there are our friends at school or work, friends we create from the characters we meet in books, imaginary friends, friends online, famous friends from films, novels, television, even ours pets can be our friends; after all dogs have always been regarded as ‘man’s best friend’ and I imagine, in some instances, women’s too.

There are some very curious and unusual friendships in history. For instance, Arthur Conan Doyle who was the creator of Sherlock Holmes and a huge believer in the supernatural and paranormal was friends for years with Houdini, the famous escapist who spent years trying to debunk fake psychics. The friendship lasted because Houdini hid his real thoughts about the truth of the supernatural from Arthur Conan Doyle.

There are also enabling friendships. Mark Twain, the famous American writer, was a great admirer of Helen Keller, the deaf and blind author and political activist. They first met when Helen was 14 and Mark Twain was in his fifties and sustained a friendship for sixteen years until Twain’s death. Twain could empathise with what it was like to be deaf and blind and Keller was very like Twain’s youngest daughter. Twain eventually arranged for a wealthy industrialist to put Keller through Radcliffe College and she became the first blind and deaf person to earn a bachelor’s degree.

Other friendships can span opposite sides of a war such as that between Ulysses S. Grant and James Longstreet who attended West Point Military School together but who fought on opposite sides in the American Civil War. After the war they rekindled their friendship and Longstreet would go on to support Grant when he ran for president.

Lots of popular children’s books are based on friendships that lead to adventure such as The Famous Five, Huck Finn, overcoming adversity, Tomorrow When the War Began, The Hobbit and help and support, The Secret Garden, Charlotte’s Web and Wind in the Willows.

Songs like Lean on Me, You’ve Got a Friend, Because I Knew You and hundreds of others all celebrate friendship as one of the main needs and influences in all of our lives.

TV programs like Friends and lots of songs celebrate friendship in its diversity, adversity and opportunities to laugh and cry together.

I attend reunions at Fintona and many women who came the School even as far back as the1940s are still friends.

I always have a chat to prospective students of Fintona and I often ask them whether they are people who like to have lots of friends, a few close friends or they just play with anyone. I also ask them what sort of characteristics they look for in friends. Invariably they say things like trustworthy, has similar interests, doesn’t want everything their way and funny.

So think about your friends. What do you like about them that makes you want to have them as a friend? What do you think they like about

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you? And what about how you treat each other? I see lots of excellent examples of friendships in many areas of school life. Girls playing outside together, sitting chatting, helping each other at camp or during a sports session. Unfortunately, I also see sometimes examples of friendships breaking down or changing in a way that it seen by some to be a betrayal. Perhaps most disappointingly is the friendship where one or more in a group talk behind someone’s back, sometimes online sometimes at school and worse still where a friendship is the cover to do the wrong thing or encourage someone to do something they don’t want to just to remain in the friendship group. That is not a friendship! If your so called friends are doing things you consider wrong, are encouraging you to take sides or speak badly of others, then you need to consider whether in fact that is a friendship you want to continue or you would be better off without it. Nor is it helpful when someone else’s friendship is not working well, if you get involved unless you are invited.

When I showed you the pictures of the animal friends of course you all respond positively and I could have shown you even more of those types of images. That is not really reflective of reality though. Another version of those images is the numerous selfies people take of themselves with their friends and everything in the image looks warm and fuzzy when the reality may be quite different. Friendships are not a selfie or a static situation captured in a single moment. Friendships are dynamic things where you can be feeling really warmly towards someone and the next moment everything has changed and you want to never speak to someone again. So don’t wrap your friendships in sentimentality as it will let you down when things don’t go according to plan. You need to take the rough with the smooth in a real friendship, be prepared sometimes to be thick skinned and tolerant and always prepared to forgive someone when things have not gone well. Being able to say sorry or to accept someone else’s apology is a great healer.

Friends, along with family, are one of the best things in life. They share things with us, laugh and cry with us, reflect our best part and sometimes our worst. When you see a friend after an absence it is sometimes like getting back a part of yourself. It is a privilege to have a good friend in life let alone more than one and you need to nurture and protect that friendship and make sure that you give as well as take. There’s an old saying that says, to have a friend you have to be a friend which is a useful reminder of the mutual relationship that exists between true friends.

Having just come back from overseas, remember what a big interesting world it is out there and that all over the world people are living quite different lives from us but still managing to live together and deal with all that life throws at them. Many of them have unimaginably difficult lives and yet they seem to maintain an optimistic involvement in their world.

It is another busy term with Cabaret Night, Year 7 Central Australia Camp, House Cross Country, Shakespeare Day, VCE play and much much more. So look forward to the many opportunities you will have for fun, new experiences and of course, being with your friends. Have a great term.

Mrs Suzy ChandlerPrincipal

Upcoming Events 2017

FRIDAY 28 APRILCabaret Night5.30pm (Drinks & Finger food)Reid Studio7.00pm-9.30pm (Performance)Margaret Cunningham Hall

TUESDAY 2 MAYParent Seminar with Andrew FullerEmpowering Girls' to be Strong Women7.30pm-9.00pmMargaret Cunningham Hall

TUESDAY 9 MAYVoice & Guitar Soiree7.00pm-8.30pmReid Studio

FRIDAY 12 MAYMiddle School Mother's Day Breakfast7.50am-8.30amTuckshop

Save the Date 2017

SUNDAY 26 NOVEMBERFintona Food & Wine Festival11.00am-4.00pm

Term Dates 2017

Term 2 (11 weeks)19 April to 30 June

Term 3 (9 weeks)18 July to 15 September

Term 4 (10 weeks)9 October to 13 December



SATURDAY 20 MAYMother & Daughter High Tea2.30pmMargaret Cunningham Hall

WEDNESDAY 31 MAYParent SeminarSonya Karras from A Whole New World7.30pmMargaret Cunningham Hall

THURSDAY 1 JUNE & FRIDAY 2 JUNEVCE PLAY - SHAKERS RE-STIRRED7.00pmThe Just Theatre, 186 High St., Kew

Term Dates 2018

Term 1 (9 weeks)30 January to Thursday 29 March

Term 2 (11 weeks)17 April to 29 June

Term 3 (9 weeks)17 July to 14 September

Term 4 (10 weeks)8 October to 12 December

Senior School

Welcome to Term 2I hope that all the Senior School parents, students and staff have had a relaxing first term and Easter break. It is a pleasure to welcome everyone back for Term 2.

Year 10-12 Parent/Teacher InterviewsThank you to all the staff and parents who attended the parent teacher interviews held on Thursday 20 April. These sessions are an opportunity for parents and students to discuss achievements, strengths and strategies for improvement. If there are any issues arising from the meetings that you would like to discuss further with me, please contact me at school.

Life SkillsBrad Felstead presented to the Year 11 group last week about mindfulness and studying and the correlation between calming your mind and achieving academically. He ran through a number of strategies with the girls for mediation. Fintona places a high priority on students’ mental wellbeing and on developing students’ strengths in managing their emotions and feelings and particularly, their anxiety around things like study, tests, friendships and other life occurrences. Sessions such as this can assist students to manage themselves and to achieve an optimum balance between their studies, activities and sleep, with a clear and calm mind.

Senior School Homework ClubOn Monday to Thursday, Room 22 is going to be open for silent study between 3.30pm-4.45pm. Ms Lindy Grahn and Ms Katrina Brennan will supervise the study periods. I recommend this to those students who have difficulty being motivated to do their homework and are struggling to set a pattern of completing work each day.

If you feel this would be useful for your daughter (a distraction free setting with no mobile phones or technology allowed), please encourage her to attend on some or all of the days. Ms Grahn and I will be recommending it to some of the students we are working with and classroom teachers and tutors may also make recommendations to attend if they are finding students are having difficulty establishing good habits.

Girl GuidesYear 12 students have an opportunity to be involved with the Girl Guides in the Junior School. Nicola and Lauren who organise the program spoke to the Year 12 group last Friday at lunchtime about this opportunity for paid employment and if any girls are interested, they are asked to follow up by filling out the forms the girls left in the common room.

School Uniform



Please note that all students must were full winter uniform from Monday 1 May.

Security in Year 11 & Year 12 Common RoomsStudents are reminded that they should not leave valuable items unlocked in the common rooms. Over the holidays, students left IPads, calculators and other books, notes and equipment on desks, book shelves and in unlocked lockers. On any given day, such items are left out in the common room through the day and overnight.

The common rooms face to Cherry Road and the doors are left unlocked, and as such, we have no control or knowledge of people walking in to the campus, who may enter these rooms. Last term, many schools in the area reported instances of valuables being taken from staff offices by intruders on campuses. Students have a locker and a lock and should at all times lock all of their possessions in their locker when they are in class and not present in the common room.

Ms Katrina BrennanHead of Senior School

Cabaret Night - on tonight!

5.30PM (DRINKS & NIBBLES) IN THE REID STUDIO 7.00PM-9.30PM (PERFORMANCES) IN THE MARGARET CUNNINGHAM HALL

Fintona’s annual Cabaret Night is on tonight Friday 28 April and promises to be a wonderful evening of entertainment. Thanks to the generosity of our parents and local businesses, families attending tonight have the chance to win some great prizes as part of our Live Auction, Silent Auction and Raffle.

LIVE AUCTION We have six fantastic items to be auctioned live tonight:

1. Two adult tickets to the Medallion Club at Etihad Stadium for the Essendon v Port Adelaide game in the 2017 Toyota AFL Premiership Season for 7.25pm, Saturday 10th June 2017. Valued at $180. Donated by Audrey McCarthy via her employer Walters & Partners, Accountants and Business Consultants.

2. A family lifestyle photography package, inclusive of session fee and a framed handmade paper fine art print. Valued at nearly $1000.Donated by the Black family and Sarah Black Photography (www.sarahblackphotography.com.au).

3. Two nights accommodation at “Ghost Gum Waters”. A lovely home on a picturesque 7 acres with Lake Nillahcootie frontage, just over 2 hours north east of Melbourne. Enjoy in the summer or winter, relax surrounded by mountains or seek adventure on the water or the nearby ski hills! Valued at $800+. Donated by the Clausen Family and Women’s & Men’s Health Physiotherapy (www.wmhp.com.au)

4. Western Bulldogs 2016 AFL Premiers framed team jumper with photos. Priceless. Organised by Les Kitchin.

5. AFL WOMEN’S Carlton Blues Inaugural Team 2017 framed photos, exclusive to Fintona. Priceless. Organised by Les Kitchin.

6. ANZAC centenary, limited edition, framed memorabilia print “Our Fallen Heroes”. Valued at $695. Organised by Les Kitchin.

SPONSORSWe gratefully acknowledge the support of our wonderful parents and local businesses for their generous donations towards the Live Auction, Silent Auction and Raffle.

We would especially like to thank Les Kitchin, our auctioneer for the night and for his effort in sourcing some great Live Auction prizes.

Thank you to the following Fintona families for your donations:AbzatzAntoniosBennardoBlackChandnaniChen (Andrew and Marisa)ClausenCutter



DimopoulosFadavi FiroozGanesonGargHeJacobsKitchinLauderLe (Khoa and Mai)LimMcCarthyMeiMitchellOgawaO’NeilParmenterSchroederStanleyTalTangTavlaridisTu

Thank you also to the following local businesses:Aveda BalwynBalwyn Day + Night PharmacyEndota Spa BalwynElla BacheGoodlife Healthclub BalwynHip KidsHome Office Made EasyPramskinsSarah Black PhotographyShe HairdressingSunny Golf ShopVelissaris PhotographyWalters & Partners Accountants and Business ConsultantsWomen’s & Men’s Health Physiotherapy

A LIMITED NUMBER OF TICKETS WILL STILL BE AVAILABLE AT THE DOOR TONIGHTTickets are only $20 for adults and $10 for students. Please note that performers do not require tickets.

We hope to see you tonight.

Friends of Music CommitteeLouise Hordern, Diane Lee, Shan Morrison, Doreen Tang, Rola Tal and Deborah Ogawa

SHAKERS RE-STIRRED - SCHOOL PLAY

In Shakers Re-Stirred written by John Godber and Jane Thornton, we are introduced to Carol, Adele, Nicky and Mel, four struggling waitresses working in a not-so-chic cocktail bar in the north of England who try to make a go of it against the hopelessness that was Thatcher's London.

In theatrically heightened moments, the women play the roles of men and women alike, covering not only their nights at Shakers (the cocktail bar) but also the lives of four other working women in London. Always at the source of their satire are the men who take them for granted or, worse, abuse them. Against this backdrop of postmodern London life are kaleidoscopic scenes of hilarity and depravity.

Tart-tongued and irreverent, the lives of all of these women are put in painful perspective by the doubling of their roles which draws attention to the economic and social prejudices affecting all



women, not just the fighters we meet at Shakers.

DATE: Thursday 1 June & Friday 2 JuneTIME: 7.00pmPLACE: The Just Theatre, Kew Court House, 186 High Street, Kew

Tickets are now available at www.trybooking.com/PTNT

Adults $10.00 Students $5.00 Read More.

Mr Jason ForrestDrama Co-ordinator

FROM THE BUSINESS OFFICEFee accounts for Term 3, 2017

Fee accounts were mailed or emailed by 21 April 2017 and are due for payment by Monday 15 May, 2017.

Due dates for the remainder of 2017

Term 3 2017 – Due 15th May 2017Term 4 2017 – Due 14th August 2017Term 1 2018 – Due 31st October 2017

Terms and Conditions relating to the payment of fees may be viewed on the School’s website and I request that you make particular reference to the application of administration fees. Please be aware that a surcharge applies to payments made by credit card. 1% surcharge to any credit card payment made via Mastercard, VISA and American Express. This surcharge will be added by the Business Office when the credit card payment is processed.

If you have not received an account, please contact the Accountant, Rowena Vitarelli at [email protected] to request a copy.

Ms Rowena VitarelliAccountant

Art for Elephants - Auction Postponed

Thank you to everyone who has donated art work for the Art for Elephants Auction and competition. This event has been postponed and will now coincide with the Food & Wine Festival in November. We will continue to accept art work up until that time. A slip to attach to all art work donated can be found here Read More

More information will be provided early in Term 4. If you have any enquiries please contact the School.

Ayla Edwards (Year 12)Art for Elephants Committee

Careers Information

The Year 9 girls have been offered a chance to participate in the Girls in STEM Program at Melbourne



University. It is a wonderful program with a residential camp in the July holidays and a guaranteed work experience placement in a STEM related field in Year 10. It also has a mentoring program that continues until the end of Year 12 and forges connections with industry giving many opportunities to the successful candidates through to Year 12 and beyond.

A large majority of Year 10 girls have now completed the Morrisby online careers aptitude testing. Results have been made immediately available and I would encourage you to log on with your daughters and go through their profiles together. They will all have the opportunity to meet with me over the next few weeks to discuss these profiles in detail.

The Year 11 and Year 12 girls have had various speakers come in to discuss the importance of good interview skills and first impressions which are very important skills to have. There is follow up material available for the girls to refer to online. This will also help those that have to complete an interview process as a part of the course application.

Please access the Fintona Careers Gazette published fortnightly for regular updates on careers information

Mrs Suzanne HanneberyCareers Co-ordinator

FROM THE COUNSELLOR

“Learning to manage time takes effort – procrastination comes naturally” Brad Felstead discusses ways to beat procrastination in his book The Balanced Student and also within the Life Skills sessions he provides to our students. Scheduling time by using diaries, routines and timetables are common strategies for students to know what has to be done and to make it easier to sit down and complete the work. Time management is very often about energy management, that is about managing stress and finding what works to maintain motivation and feel balanced.

Sometimes when students procrastinate it can be related to having a perfect vision in their mind or having a perfect outcome that they want to reach but they fear that they won’t be able to achieve this vision. Having high standards is positive and motivating but not to an extreme extent that the work needs to be perfect. Having high standards is healthy if it’s also recognised that it takes time, effort,

revision and practice to reach goals and that it’s ok to make mistakes along the way.

Talking about ways to tackle procrastinating with a student during a non-stressful time is obviously more helpful than in the middle of when a deadline is due. Discussing the consequences of procrastinating and any unrealistic expectations about their performance can be very beneficial. Providing an example of a situation in which you had to complete a project to the best of your ability under a deadline can help them see that perfection is not necessary or even ideal. Another chance to model helpful ways of coping could be done by working together on a project within the home. This provides possibilities for ‘teachable moments’ to occur, where problems associated with perfectionism can be discussed. For example, any compromises that are made during the process, such as any imperfections or less elaborate plans, any limitations of skills or time available that prevent achieving perfection in the task.

Students knowing what they can and can’t realistically achieve within time limits can help them to finish what work is possible. Also establishing ways to balance their time with completing work in a gradual way to help reduce last-minute rushes or trying to complete several pieces of work at the one time. Knowing when to schedule short or extended rest periods whilst studying or completing projects is also essential so they look after themselves.

Mrs Fiona StekhovenSchool Counsellor

Art Stars

Twilight drops her curtain down ...



... and pins it with a star

Nature Block PrintsIn response to a visit to the insect displays at Melbourne Museum, the Year 7s produced a series of block prints. Through the use of line and shape, students sort to emphasise the patterns of the textures of some of the insects and other things in nature they encountered.

Pictured: Work by Dayara Jayatissa, Sopie Fitsiorios, Dailey Gillies and Genevieve Reattalick

Mr Brit BivianoArt Co-ordinator

Middle SchoolWelcome back to Term 2. I trust that girls and their families have had a restful break and feel refreshed ready for another busy term.

During the last week of Term 1, the Year 8 girls enjoyed their camp to Gembrook. The girls are to be congratulated on their willingness to challenge themselves with activities such as abseiling which for most was a new experience and for the cheerful enthusiasm with which they undertook the varied activities, many of which took them outside their comfort zone. I would like to thank the staff who attended this camp for their nurturing of the girls and for giving up their time to support them in this most worthwhile part of the curriculum.

The Year 7 girls are looking forward to their camp to Central Australia next week where they will have the opportunity of not only visiting many of Australia’s iconic natural landmarks, but also learn more about Indigenous culture during their stay at the Lilla Community.

With the cooler winter months approaching, Moss House will again become a haven from the cold winds and rain. Many girls enjoy spending lunchtimes in the lounge room or dining room where board games and chatter are the favoured activities and the kitchen continues to be popular for heating food in the microwave ovens. Cooking Club and Gardening Club have recommenced this term and always prove to be popular activities at lunch time. A reminder that Chess Club has also started on Mondays at lunchtime.



Our annual Mother's Day breakfast will be held in the Tuckshop on Friday 12 May, 7.50am – 8.30am. If you have not already responded on Care Monkey, could you please do so by next Monday to enable us to organise Thank you to all parents who attended this week’s parent teacher interviews. It was delightful to meet with you and learn more about your daughters and how best to meet their needs.

Pictured: Alana Dimopolous abseiling during the Year 8 camp

Ms Trish LeighHead of Middle School

Year 8 History Excursion to the State Library

On Wednesday 26 April, Year 8 students visited the State Library of Victoria. At the moment, we are studying Medieval Europe in History and the visit gave the girls the opportunity to see some of the Library’s collection of illuminated manuscripts dating from this period and also to participate in a calligraphy workshop and create an illuminated manuscript for themselves. For many of the students, it was their first attempt at calligraphy but they became proficient quite quickly and the results were impressive. The girls were fascinated to see a Sumerian cuneiform tablet and admired the Library’s collection of beautiful handmade books and with exquisite illuminations. A short tour of the library and the stunning Reading room reminded us all what a wonderful building and rich resource we have in our State Library.

Pictured: Mia Pope, Emma Puglia and Hannah Smit enjoy the calligraphy workshop

Mrs Sue WoolleyHistory Teacher

Junior SchoolAssembliesLast week we thoroughly enjoyed a performance from the Senior School Music students. The Junior School girls listened attentively and excitedly as they admired the musical talent of the Senior School girls. We thank Ms Elizabeth Exintaris for arranging this wonderful experience.

This week the Year 1 girls confidently and capably shared much of their learning in the Year 1 Class Assembly. It was great to hear about their knowledge about life cycles and the variety of experiences that have been a part of the Year 1 classroom. We thank Mrs Kym Dancey for her work with the Year 1 girls.

Mother’s DayI hope all our mums have received their invitation to our Mother’s Day Assembly on Thursday 18 May at 8.30am, followed by time in the classroom and a fundraising morning tea to support ‘Kids with Cancer’.

School UniformPlease note that the winter uniform (including smock) is to be worn from Monday 1 May.

Class CaptainsEach term the girls in Years 3 and 4 vote for a class captain. The class captains for Term 2 are:



Year 3 Elise PittsYear 4 Piper Hartnett

Ms Eleni GoulasHead of Junior School

ANZAC DayThe Community Service Captains sold badges for $1, $2 and $5 in the Junior School courtyard on Thursday 20 and Friday 21 April. ANZAC stands for Australia New Zealand Army Corps (pronounced Core). We raised $113.05 and the money will go to the RSL which stands for Returned Service League. Thank you for your support.

Anna and IssiCommunity Service Captains

Year 1 'How we express ourselves'

The Year 1 class has had a busy start to Term 2! We have started our ‘How we express ourselves’ Unit of Inquiry looking at the central idea ‘Story telling connects us through time, culture and traditions’. We will be using the concepts of Perspective and Connection to help us.

To start our Unit, we thought about the question ‘What is a story?’ We worked together in small groups to write and draw our ideas. We then looked at our provocation table which included a program from a ballet performance, a CD of Fintona school songs, a book of famous artwork, a fairy tale book, a book of Aesop’s Fables, stories from other countries, a script for a play and a favourite picture story book. We worked with a partner to come up with things that we wanted to find out:

Why are books so interesting?I want to find out about how the authors and illustrators make books.What is a fable?Do all books have to have words in them?What kinds of Greek stories are there?Are there different versions of stories?Does every story have a character?Are newspapers a kind of story?I want to find out about plays, nursery rhymes and artwork being kinds of stories.

We are looking forward to finding out the answers to these questions and so much more!

Pictured: Year 1 books

Mrs Kym DanceyYear 1 Classroom Teacher

School BankingThere are two new reward items to encourage students to keep saving in Term 2: the 3D Chalk Set and Tablet Case. Your child can redeem one of these, while stocks last, after making 10 School Banking deposits. Rewards for 2017 are as follows:Cyber Handball – Term 1Colour Change Markers – Term 13D Chalk Set – Term 2Tablet Case – Term 2Smiley Emoji Keyring – Term 3Volt Handball – Term 3Pencil & Tech Case – Term 4



Epic Earphones – Term 4

For every deposit made at school, no matter how big or small, students will receive a silver Dollarmites token. Once students have individually collected 10 tokens they can redeem them for exclusive School Banking reward items in recognition of their regular savings habits. There are 2 new items released each term so be sure to keep an eye out for them!

If your daughter is not currently involved in the School Banking program and you would like to know more, please see Mrs Sue Peat in the Junior School Office.

Toy Incursion

On Monday 24April, The Preps had a visit from Supreme Incursions and participated in an incursion called “Toys Over Time”. As our current PYP unit has the central idea ‘The way children play changes over time’, this hands-on session made strong connections with the unit. During the afternoon, the girls had the opportunity to play with lots of toys that have been around for a long time and some new toys too!

The toys were sorted into different areas; construction toys, imaginative toys, active toys and thinking toys and the girls had the chance to play at each of these stations. In the next few weeks, we will be using the knowledge gained during the incursion to help further our understanding of the central idea.

Pictured: Prep girls enjoying participation in the 'Toys over Time' incursion

Mrs Brittany CreekPrep Teacher

Early Learning CentreWelcome BackThe staff of the Early Learning Centre warmly welcome back our children and their families, and we hope that everyone had a restful and fun-filled Easter Break. Term 2 is already shaping up to be another busy one and we look forward to sharing the children’s learning with you as the term progresses.

ELC Photo Days Next WeekThe ELC children will be photographed by Hello Photo the week commencing Monday 1 May. You have already received instructions via email outlining how to register your child for photos. If your child

has not been registered, individual photographs will not be taken of them on the day. Registrations will be accepted until the end of this week. The staff and parents have always been delighted with the quality of the photographs and I am sure that this year will be no exception. If you have any questions in regards to this please see your classroom teacher.

Illness and HygieneAs we are heading into the cold and flu season we asked that you be aware of keeping your child at home if they are feeling unwell. It can be very difficult for your child to cope within a group setting when they are feeling unwell. If your child is ill, please keep them at home so they can rest and recover. Please remind your child to cover their mouth and nose when coughing and to wash their hands after coughing or blowing their nose. This will cut down on the incidence of cross infection, which is rampant in the winter months.

Please also be mindful that it is ELC policy that children are kept at home for 24 hours after last instances of vomiting or diarrhoea, or if your child has had a temperature above 38°c. Please understand that if your child is unwell at school, they will be sent home by staff in order to recover. These small measures all help to prevent the spread of illness to other children and staff and we appreciate your co-operation.



Pictured: The Jacaranda Joey’s were excited to be back at School this week

Ms Cara MearnsHead of Early Learning Centre

TuckshopMiddle & Senior SchoolShannon Smith and his staff provide great coffee, hot chocolate and interesting, affordable and healthy meal choices, made fresh daily. Please come to the Tuckshop and introduce yourself, have a coffee and try some of the delicious food on offer. To find out what is on the menu and how to order Read More

ELC & Junior SchoolOrder lunches online https://fintona.mycanteen.co Please Note: Orders must be placed by 8.30am on the day the lunch is required. Contact Mrs Sue Peat in the Junior School Office if you have any enquiries, phone 9880 4444.

Other Areas

Buy and sell second-hand uniform items. The Sustainable Uniform Shop is a new initiative. Read More The Uniform Shop is open the first and third Monday of the month during term; 3.00pm-4.00pm.

Fintona Parents' Association, Friends of Music and Friends of Rowing. Read More

See what is happening in the weeks ahead. Please Note: Parents can access the School Calendar via inFintona. Read More

Permanent and casual places available in Out of Hours School Care. Read More

Holiday Program Read More

Middle & Senior School lunches and snacks Read MoreELC & Junior School lunches, order online https://fintona.mycanteen.co

Check notices sent home and when to return them to School. Read More



from the principal 5 28... · debunk fake psychics. the friendship lasted because houdini hid his...

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