Welcome to Issue 13 of the College Newsletter! This includes: • National Science Week Activities • A spotlight on Teaching & Learning on Primary • Year 4 and 9 SRC Reflections • Mobile Phone - Student Use Policy • School Council Report & Upcoming Events • What’s on @ The Lakes
THE LAKES SOUTH MORANG COLLEGE NEWSLETTER 2022 - ISSUE 10 Date 00, 2022
Term 3, Week 6 Issue 13 - 2024
The Lakes South Morang College Newsletter
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
The Lakes South Morang College respectfully acknowledges that beneath the significant River Red Gums that feature across our school's landscape lay the traditional lands of the Wurundjeri - Willam people of the Kulin Nation.
Principal Report
01
Student Perspective
03
School Council
04
College Connections
06
PRINCIPAL REPORT BONNIE LEE SECONDARY CAMPUS PRINCIPAL
Teaching & Learning
08
Social Scene
10
Policy Spotlight
11
12
What ’ s on @ The Lakes
CELEBRATING SCIENCE WEEK!
Community Noticeboard
20
What an incredible Science Week we ’ ve had at The Lakes South Morang College! The theme this year was Species Survival – More Than Just Sustainability . This theme invited our students to explore the complex and critical issues surrounding species conservation and the broader implications of sustainability. Understanding these concepts is vital for young people as they grow into the next generation of leaders, scientists, and informed citizens. Our students engaged in activities that not only deepened their understanding of the natural world but also inspired them to think about their role in protecting it. A special thank you goes to Ms. Wilson, Dr. Nayyar, Ms. Napolitano, and Mr. Karevski for their extraordinary efforts in making this week a resounding success. Your passion for science and dedication to our students' learning is truly appreciated!
SPECIAL POINTS OF INTEREST IN THIS ISSUE:
• National Science Week Activities
• A spotlight on Teaching & Learning on Primary
• Year 4 and 9 SRC Reflections
YEAR 5/6 CAMP HIGHLIGHTS
• Mobile Phone - Student Use Policy
• School Council Report & Upcoming Events
Congratulations to all Year 5/6 students who attended camp this year! The camp was a fantastic experience filled with adventure, learning, and lots of fun. We are so proud of everyone who participated and made the most of this opportunity to bond with peers and take on new challenges. Well done to all!
• What ’ s on @ The Lakes
BOOK WEEK AND PARADE FUN
Book Week is always a highlight on our calendar, and this year ’ s theme, Reading is Magic , truly captured the imagination of our students. The theme emphasises the transformative power of reading—how it can transport us to different worlds, broaden our perspectives, and ignite creativity. Reading is foundational to all learning, and fostering a love for books in our young people is key to their academic and personal growth. Our annual Book Week Parade was a testament to the joy and enthusiasm that reading brings. Students and staff alike embraced the magic of reading, with creative costumes that brought characters and stories to life. The creativity and enthusiasm shown by all was outstanding, making it a memorable event for the whole College community.
Secondary Campus 80 Jardier Terrace, South Morang 3752 Primary Campus 275 Gordons Road, South Morang 3752
(03) 9404 9000
The Lakes South Morang College Newsletter PRINCIPAL REPORT
EDUTECH CONFERENCE
FATHER'S AND SPECIAL FRIENDS DAY
Last week we sent a number of staff to the mega - event, Edutech. Participatnts have begun exciting discussion regarding the upgrade and incorporation of cutting - edge technologies throughout our classrooms over the next 5 - 10 years. This conference is quickly becoming a highly sought after professional learning opportunity from our staff and we hope to translate their learnings and enthusiasm into tangible technological improvements for our students - more to come on this in the near future.
A reminder that next week we will be celebrating Father's and Special Friends Day with a special breakfast. We look forward to seeing families join us for this wonderful event.
SECONDARY CAMPUS PROGRESS REPORTS AND LEARNER REVIEW MEETINGS Secondary families are encouraged to mark your calendars for Wednesday 28 th August, when we will hold our Secondary Campus Learner Review Meetings. These meetings are a crucial way for parents and carers to stay informed about their child ’ s learning progress. Your involvement is essential as equal partners in your child ’ s education, and we encourage all families to participate fully.
AIM HIGH CONFERENCE
Staff participated in our Aim High Conference this week, where they delved into the College's narrative around high - performance through high expectations. This narrative is not just for our students but is a commitment from all members of our College community—students, parents/carers, and staff. Together, we aim to foster an environment of excellence and continuous growth. During the two - day conference we explored:
SHAVING FOR A CAUSE
In a show of solidarity and support for members of our College community who have experienced loss and grief, I, along with Teachers, Education Support Staff, and School Councillors, will be participating in the Shaving for a Cause event. Together, we aim to raise funds and awareness, standing strong as one community. Thank you to everyone for your ongoing support and commitment to making The Lakes South Morang College a thriving, inclusive, and high - performing community. Please keep the donations coming!
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Continuing the learning journey of a P - 12 College as a united group of staff. Using the positive climate for learning principles in FISO 2.0 as the framework to address the importance of developing our four pillars: academic rigour, high expectation, school pride and community connections. Developing an understanding and building empathy among all staff to the various learning stages, cycles, transition points and expertise required to have learning success in a P - 12 College. Refining our understanding of what a great P - 12 College looks, feels and acts like using data informed evidence. Effectively leading and responding to challenging conversations with all members of the College community. Further building collective efficacy and a commitment to the philosophy of “ high performance ”.
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CONGRATULATIONS!
Congratulations to both Mr. Abney Hastings and Ms. Mansfield on some fantastic career achievements this week. Mr. Abney Hastings is attending his graduation ceremony for the Victorian Academy of Teaching and Learning this week for his successful completion of the Unlocking Potential program, well done! Additional congratulations to Ms. Mansfield who has been selected to travel to Japan over the September holidays as an Australian Education Union representative, on the back of her selection to attend Canberra earlier this year. The field study will involve visitation and meetings with schools investigating industrial practices and agreements for teachers. This will be an awesome opportunity for her and we look forward to sharing her learnings and insights upon her return.
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Our staff were deeply engaged in learning and enjoyed seminars and workshops from:
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Trevor Strolla (Executive Principal at Richmond West Primary School) and Frank Vetere (Executive Principal at Footscray College) on high - performance school cultures Renee Short and Scott McLean on enhancing Teaching and Learning practices in a high - performance culture Karlie Carrol (Mill Park Secondary College) on high - performance use of Compass Chris Daicos on using positive psychology to perform highly in managing difficult conversations Chris Egan (Inspire Learning Solutions) on thriving cultures that promote high - performance through self - and collective - efficacy.
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STUDENT PERSPECTIVE
YEAR 4 REFLECTION NEVE & COHEN YEAR 4 SRC
This Term has been full of exciting and memorable experiences! One of the highlights was our trip to Quantum at Charles La Trobe College. We had a blast learning about Indigenous Culture through Minecraft. We learned about the significance of the land to Indigenous Australians and how it will always be their land. This gave us a deeper appreciation for the rich history and traditions of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. In Writing, we've been working on persuasive texts. One of the funniest and most creative tasks was when our teachers took away our chairs! We had to write persuasive letters to convince them to give our chairs back. It was a great way to practice our persuasive writing skills and made us appreciate our chairs more! Our Thursdays have become something we all look forward to because of Learner Agency Hour. During this time, we get to choose a club to join and interact with students from years 3, 4, 5, and 6. It's been a lot of fun trying out different clubs and meeting new friends across the school. On Thursday 19 th September we have our annual Footy Day! We get to dress up in our footy colours or soccer or basketball colours. We get to have a special pie lunch, and we get to play some fun sport games at recess and lunch. We can ’ t wait! Don ’ t forget to bring a gold coin donation. Overall, this Term has been a great mix of learning and fun activities. We've gained new skills, learned important lessons, and enjoyed some memorable experiences with our classmates and teachers. We can ’ t wait to see what the rest of the term brings us.
YEAR 9 REFLECTION LUCAS & MIHAIL YEAR 9 SRC
We have been busy in Year 9 planning our upcoming City Experience which will be happening in the second last week of the Term. This great adventure that we will embark on will give all of us great experiences, memories and joyful times which we cherish for the rest of our lives. Some activities that we will all be pleased to enjoy are climbing to the sky with rock climbing and enjoy some time on the ice, skating. Some of us are fortunate enough to be given the experience to make meals for people in need. Earlier this Term we started to make decisions that will shape the future of our education, deciding what subjects to choose for Year 10 with some of us having the opportunity to study a Year 11 subject while some of us will choose to get a head start and do an early - entry VET course that will help us for the future.
The Lakes South Morang College Newsletter SCHOOL COUNCIL
Hello all,
A huge thank you firstly to parents/carers who have completed the Department of Education ’ s Parent/Carer Opinion Survey. If you haven ’ t already, our Leadership team would be incredibly grateful if you could complete it, please. Traditionally we have always had a very low response rate from our school community to this survey, which doesn ’ t really provide meaningful data and an accurate snapshot. The link to the survey can be found in your notifications in Compass. In general fundraising news, the Fundraising Subcommittee have been putting together next Friday ’ s Father ’ s Day & Special Persons Breakfast, following on from the success of last year ’ s one. Families and carers from both campuses are welcome! Money received from the gold coin donations will go to outside activities for both campuses. For Primary families, please also don ’ t forget to pre - purchase your Fathers ’ Day stall gifts on Compass, which closes at the end of today too. After the Breakfast, the team will then focus its attention on getting organised for the 2025 Welcome BBQ, making it bigger and better than this year! In the last piece of fundraising news, please also get behind the Shaving for a Cause fundraiser event on Secondary on Friday 13 September. Ms Lee, Mr Sicurella, Mr Serra and Helen Skendaris, one of our School Councillors, will be bravely having their hair shaved off to raise funds to provide care packages for students and families in our College community affected by loss and grief. These packages will bring comfort to our community members and show that we care! If you would like to donate, please click on the link in your Compass notifications.
In other news, at School Council ’ s most recent meeting on 20 August, we:
• Heard from our Primary School Captains about their 5/6 camp adventures last week and the benefits this semester ’ s new Learner Agency Hour has brought;
• Were presented with the School ’ s impressive 2024 NAPLAN results by Ms Short and Mr McLean. The results across both campuses and all year levels continually improve each year, but the results coming from Year 3 and Year 5 are simply outstanding and it will be exciting to watch how these cohorts track in to Secondary in the future; • Heard from Mr McLean about the Edutech conference last week that he and some of our staff attended and some new technologies we may consider investing in to provide a better teaching and learning experience for our students; • Discussed the bike area on Primary and debated whether it needs a cover. A survey to the Primary students is to go out to collect some data on what they would like and what are the barriers stopping more students riding/scootering to and from school;
• Discussed the process of issuing notifications to parents/carers if a student is late to class on Compass for Secondary students;
• Brainstormed how Primary assemblies could be improved and restructured to encourage more student participation and parent/carer attendance;
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Endorsed the motion to restructure Curriculum Charges for 2025; and
• Endorsed subsidising the Year 6 Graduation cost for each student to participate.
As always, if you have any issues, ideas, questions that you would like raised at our next Council meeting, or any other support, we are more than happy to hear from families so please feel free to send me an email to amanda.farrelly@education.vic.gov.au. Council meets twice per term on a Tuesday at 5:30pm and visitors and observers are always welcome!
Have a great weekend,
Amanda Farrelly School Council President
FATHER ’ S DAY 2024
To celebrate Father ’ s Day, the Fundraising team warmly invites all dads and special persons from both campuses to attend our annual Father ’ s Day Breakfast . For a gold coin donation, enjoy an egg and bacon roll and have a game of bocce or bat tennis with the kids. There will also be a coffee van on site offering free coffee to all dads and special persons. The event is also a great excuse to connect with other Lakes families!
Date: Friday 30th August Time: 8:00am - 8:45am Location: Primary Campus
Primary parents/carers please don ’ t also forget to purchase your child ’ s gift tickets for the Father ’ s Day stall , held on Wednesday 28th August. For your child to participate, gifts are
to be pre - purchased on CompassTix, Students will then come to the stall to select their gifts in their class ’ s allocated time during the day, as per previous years. Each gift is $5.00 and there is limited number, so we encourage everyone to be mindful of others and recommend purchasing 2 gifts per student please.
Order gifts here: https://compasstix.com/e/9i8s0dkmra
Ticket sales will end at 5pm on Friday 23rd August
On the day: Each student will need to bring a bag (Children will have a variety of gifts to choose from).
The Lakes South Morang College Newsletter COLLEGE CONNECTIONS
HIDE & SEEK FOR SCIENCE WEEK!
CELEBRATING NATIONAL SCIENCE WEEK ON THE PRIMARY CAMPUS
On Tuesday 13th August, the Primary Campus celebrated National Science Week with activities designed to explore this year ’ s theme of Species Survival – More Than Just Sustainability . With the help of some Year 7 and 8 students we asked - Why do animals camouflage? As scientists we explored how animals camouflage to hide from predators and sometimes their prey, We looked at different adaptations living creatures have to help them survive, and also learnt about how they can become threatened by habitat loss or other changes to their environment. Cohorts worked together to camouflage different animals into our Learning Street environment. It was great to also share our Inquiry learning with our families and friends who visited
in Session 1 to see Learning in Action!
NATURAL FUN OUTDOORS During Science Week our Primary STEM Captains setup a lunchtime activity for students to explore nature. This was one of the activities offered: Are you ready to go on a nature scavenger hunt? There are so many wonderful things to discover! Do you have bugs in your backyard? I wonder what they are? Look for tracks, scat and evidence of animals in your local area. This Australian themed nature scavenger hunt has been hand illustrated and painted by artist and Eco Explorers bush playgroup facilitator Kate Rijs.
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ABOUT THE ARTIST Kate Rijs is an artist, qualified and experienced Primary School Teacher, Art Teacher and bush playgroup facilitator who is passionate about creativity and nurturing creativity and imagination in both children and adults. She believes that nature is the best classroom that there is.
Source: https://www.ecoexplorers.com.au/downloads/free - australian - scavenger - hunt - print - out
The Lakes South Morang College Newsletter TEACHING & LEARNING
Throughout Term 3 students on the Primary Campus have been working diligently in English
and Maths to continue to develop their literacy and numeracy skills.
PREP In Prep , students have been reading fiction and non - fiction texts. They have also been decoding while reading and reviewing single letter sounds and digraphs. As part of their focus on writing they have been writing sentences from left to right and including a capital letter at the start of the sentence and spaces between each word.
YEAR 1
Our Year 1 students have continued to develop their number fluency and will be investigating and describing number patterns. They will also be skip counting by twos, fives and tens starting from zero. As part of their Inquiry focus on ‘ Mini - Beasts ’, our Year 1’ s will be having an incursion that will give them an opportunity to see, touch and feed some minibeasts.
YEAR 2
YEAR 3 Our Year 3’ s will also be experiencing an incursion called ‘ Democracy, Community and Me ’ this Term that will complement their “ How can we change the law to make our society better for everyone? ” Inquiry unit. During English there will be a focus on using and developing their persuasive language and techniques as they will be persuasive and narrative texts. This will be supported by the development in their understanding of the difference between simple, compound and complex sentences.
In Year 2 students will be exploring and investigating push and pull forces as part of their Inquiry unit. In order to further extend their understanding and knowledge of this topic they will be engaging with an incursion that focuses on ‘ Push, Pull and Motion ’. In Mathematics our Year 2’ s will be choosing simple questions to ask/survey, gather responses and then represent and interpret this data. As they explore geometry, they will be looking at two and three - dimensional shapes through investigations focusing on the effect of flip, slide and turn.
YEAR 4 Year 4 students have been focusing on identifying the genre of the text they are reading, identifying the relevant text features of fiction and non - fiction works and understanding an author ’ s purpose. In their own writing they have been composing different text types such as information reports and responding to persuasive writing prompts. This includes revising and developing the use of apostrophes and inverted commas and working on their proof - reading and editing skills. YEAR 5 In early Term 3 our Year 5’ s went on an NGV Visual Arts excursion and later in the Term they will be going to Preston Market as a complement to their Inquiry topic. In Mathematics one of their focuses for this Term will be fractions; in particular, they will be comparing, ordering and placing fractions on a number line, adding and subtracting fractions, and describing, continuing and creating number patterns involving addition and subtraction of fractions. They will be creating informative texts with varied sentence structures and appropriate vocabulary and this will be supported by the work they are doing on understanding how noun groups/phrases and adjective groups/phrases can be expanded in a variety of ways to provide a fuller description of the person, place, thing or idea. YEAR 6 In Year 6 students have been developing writing strategies and skills with the use of the 6 Traits of Writing. They will applied the 6 Traits of Writing through a range of text types, including Persuasive, Explanation and Discussion pieces. Students have also been to Quantum Victoria for an excursion on 3D Design and Printing for their Digital Design subject.
The Lakes South Morang College Newsletter SOCIAL SCENE
POLICY SPOTLIGHT
MOBILE PHONES - STUDENT USE
http://www.thelakes.edu.au/uploads/8/3/9/0/83901006/mobile_phone_ - _student_use_policy_2022.pdf
In accordance with the Department ’ s Mobile Phones - Student Use Policy, issued by the Minister for Education, personal mobile phones must not be used at The Lakes during school hours, including lunchtime and recess, unless an exception has been granted (see policy for exemption categories). The Lakes South Morang College understands that students may bring a personal mobile phone to school, particularly if they are travelling independently to and from school. In this instance, students who choose to bring mobile phones to school must have them switched off and securely stored in their lockers/ school bags/secure storage during school hours.
Where students bring a mobile phone to school, The Lakes South Morang College can provide secure storage. Secure storage is storage that cannot be readily accessed by those without permission to do so. At The Lakes students are required to store their phones either in their lockers, or, handed into the school administration office to be placed in a lockable cupboard/safe.
Please ensure you and your child are aware of our Mobile Phone - Student Use Policy and that mobile devices include smart watches with the call feature activated during school hours.
Mobile phones owned by students at The Lakes are considered valuable items and are brought to school at the owner ’ s (student ’ s or parent/carer ’ s) risk.
Policies are available to all families via our website http://www.thelakes.edu.au/policies -- reports.html
The Lakes South Morang College Newsletter WHAT ’ S ON @ THE LAKES
Breakfast Club on Primary Campus Every Wednesday 8.15am - 8.45am (Except for the first week and last week of the term)
AUGUST:
WEEK 7
Tuesday 27th
Year 7 Basketball
Year 1, 2 & 3 Swimming Program
Fun Phonics School Readiness Session Primary Campus 12.00pm - 12.30pm
Secondary Learner Review Adjusted School Day
Wednesday 28th
Father ’ s Day Stall Primary Campus only
Thursday 29th
Year 4 & 5 CERES Incursion #2
VCE - VM White Card Course
Father ’ s Day Breakfast 8am on Primary Campus
Friday 30th
SEPTEMBER:
WEEK 8
Monday 2nd
Year 1 Minibeast Incursion
Year 3 Democracy & Me Incursion
VCE Food Studies
Tuesday 3rd
Year 1, 2 & 3 Swimming Program
Regional Interschool Athletics
Wednesday 4th
100 Days of Prep
Year 2 Push & Pull Incursion
Year 5 Preston Market Excursion
Thursday 5th
Year 9 & 10 VIA Quantum Excursion
Fun Phonics School Readiness Session Primary Campus 10.15am - 10.45am
Primary Assembly 2.30pm in Gym
Friday 6th
Book Now for Primary or Secondary Tours on 9404 9000 for individual 2024 - 2025 School Tours
Tuesday 17th September 10am - 6pm
Come see The Lakes Primary Campus Art Show . It will be held in the Learning Street during Primary Learner Review Meetings. Have a look at some of the great artworks made by Lakes students!
The Lakes South Morang College Newsletter WHAT ’ S ON @ THE LAKES
The Lakes South Morang College Newsletter WHAT ’ S ON @ THE LAKES
The Lakes South Morang College Newsletter WHAT ’ S ON @ THE LAKES
The Lakes South Morang College Newsletter COMMUNITY NOTICEBOARD
ATTENDANCE - EVERY DAY COUNTS
BELONGINGS, AMBULANCE & INSURANCE
If you are aware that your child will not be attending school due to illness or other circumstances, please contact either office to ensure our attendance records are accurate.
Private property brought to school by students, staff or visitors is not insured and the Department of Education does not accept any responsibility for any loss or damage.
Ways of communicating absences include:
Parents and carers are reminded that the Department of Education does not provide personal accident insurance or ambulance cover for students. Parents and carers of students who do not have student accident insurance/ ambulance cover are responsible for paying the cost of medical treatment for injured students, including the cost of ambulance attendance/transport and any other transport costs.
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Placing a future Absence Request through the Compass Education Portal;
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Calling the office;
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Sending an SMS on 0427 226 537
As required by the Department of Education, all schools must notify parents/carers informing that their child is absent. Please inform the office of absences before 10am each morning.
CSEF (CAMPS, SPORTS & EXCURSIONS FUND) The Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund helps eligible families to cover the costs of school trips, camps, and sporting activities.
It is important that funding made available in 2024 supports students to participate in school trips, camps, and sporting activities this year rather than being held for future years. This funding can also be used in conjunction with any funding accrued from previous years. If you applied for CSEF through our school last year, you do not need to complete an application form this year, unless there has been a change in your family circumstances. If you would like to apply for the first time, please contact the Primary Campus office on 9404 9000 or Secondary Campus office on 9401 3919 and ask for an application form. You can also download the form, and find out more about the program and eligibility, on the Department of Education and Training ’ s Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund web page.
If you have a valid means - tested concession card, such as a Veterans Affairs Gold Card, Centrelink Health Care Card, or Pensioner Concession Card, or are a temporary foster parent, you may be eligible. There is also a special consideration category for asylum seeker and refugee families. Payment amounts this year are $150.00 for eligible primary school students and $250.00 for eligible secondary school students. Payments are made direct to the school to use towards expenses relating to camps, excursions, and sporting activities for the benefit of your child. Foundation and Year 7 government school students who are CSEF recipients are also eligible for a uniform voucher. Schools are required to make applications on behalf of parents, so please register your interest at the school.
Check with the school office if you are unsure, and please return completed forms to the school office as soon as possible.
Please call Karen on 9404 9000 to discuss further, if you have a service or upcoming event you would like to promote through our Newsletter.
PHOTOGRAPHING, RECORDING AND FILMING CONSENT
thelakes.edu.au/uploads/8/3/9/0/83901006/photographing_filming___recording_of_students_policy_2024.pdf
The Photographing, Filming and Recording Students Consent Form is provided by The Lakes South Morang College at enrolment. Recent Departmental changes to this policy mean that this now only has to be completed once during your child ’ s educational journey at The Lakes. As a component of our transition to Compass, all families across the College will be sent a message on Compass or contacted by a member of staff in regards to Permission to Publish for your child provided at enrolment. If at any time parents/carers wish to give or withdraw their consent, they can by contacting the College or completing the form below.
To update or make changes to your Photographing, Filming and Recording consent, please download and complete this form before returning to the front office.
CANTEEN ORDERS
Scan the code to setup an account and select The Lakes South Morang College. Orders need to be in by 9am on the day.
This year the school canteen is offering lunch orders through the Flexischools app.
Follow the steps below to setup an account and select The Lakes South Morang College.
To thrive, children need a safe and supportive environment at school, at home and in the broader community; no exceptions. At The Lakes South Morang College, we believe meeting the physical and emotional needs of our students is paramount in laying the foundations for a fulfilling future. We pledge to provide an environment that has zero tolerance to child abuse and will strive to work in partnership with our parents and community members to keep our students safe every day, in every way.
The Lakes South Morang College Child Safety Statement
PRIMARY CAMPUS: Telephone: 9404 9000 275 Gordons Road South Morang 3752 SECONDARY CAMPUS: Telephone: 9401 3919 80 Jardier Terrace South Morang 3752 ABN 52 938 171 499 PO Box 207 South Morang 3752 lakes.south.morang.co@education.vic.gov.au
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