On Friday 28 February, I had the pleasure of accompanying the Junior School Captains and Junior School House Captains to the Sunshine Coast Independent Primary Heads Association’s Leadership Day. The day provided the students with an opportunity to participate in a leadership development program. The program aimed to assist students in becoming strong and resilient young people who are inspired to use the leadership opportunity they have been given to make a positive difference. The activities the students were involved in will help them to rise up to the challenge of being leaders in our school and lead the way. The program developed a range of leadership skills including developing a positive self-mindset, relationship building, communication, team building, goal setting, public speaking and active listening. The students all enjoyed the day and are to be congratulated for their excellent behaviour and a great representation of our school. Thank you also to Natalie Wotton and Charles Piggott for providing transport to and from the venue. P&F’s Dance Party The P&F’s Dance Party is being held on Friday 13 March between 5.30 and 7.30pm. The regular P&F events throughout the year are always lots of fun and a great opportunity to catch up with everyone and also meet and welcome all our new families. Please note that this is a school social and not a drop off event. Parents are encouraged to bring a chair and picnic (or order a cheese platter) and enjoy some fellowship whilst the children are at the disco. There is further information about this event and how you can purchase tickets on Parent Portal. Junior School Assembly Congratulations to all the students who received Merit Certificates on this week’s assembly and thank you to the Year 4 students for sharing a presentation on the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of our local area. The next Junior School Assembly will be held in the Raelene Boyle Hall on Wednesday 18 March at 8.30am. Students from Year 4 will be making a presentation and Merit Certificates will be awarded to selected students from each class. All parents, grandparents and friends are encouraged to join the students from the Junior School at this assembly. Class News from 3JH The students in Year 3 have been extremely excited since day one about meeting their new CCPS buddy this year. So when the time came a couple of weeks ago, the Year 3 classroom was overflowing with supportive, caring friends willing to lend a hand and offer guidance. In Year 3, meeting your buddy is an even more exciting occasion than in previous years, as up until now the students have always been allocated an older buddy. However, in Year 3 the students are presented with the leadership opportunity to guide and help a younger student from our City Stars Kindergarten. Once all of the introductions were out of the way, the Year 3 students read a book to their buddy and shared some play time together. They also spent lots of time talking with the youngsters to assist in developing their oral language skills. In the coming weeks, the students in 3JH are looking forward to assisting their buddies with art and craft projects and helping one-on-one with scissor skills, drawing and writing. Buddy time has quickly become one of our favourite times of the week in Year 3 with the students building lifelong friendships and a support network for their younger peers.