Edinburgh Bigger and Better: Over the year-end holidays our building programme commenced with the demolition of the old house which has been our administration office. Safety fencing has been erected and excavations for our new administration block and multi-purpose classroom are well underway. The portable has been transformed to accommodate our school office, Principal's office, Special Ed room, Chaplains office, Deputy Principal's and curriculum development office and staff room. Staff have been very busy painting, sorting and moving into this new temporary facility. As with any building programme, there will be some disruption to car parking facilities and playground areas but we are very excited to see the building of our new facilities finally underway.

We apologise too our school families for any inconvenience experienced during this building programme. Our staff are working extra hard to ensure a continued full and balanced learning programme for our students during 2010.

New Technology: Our classrooms have all seen the installation of brand new interactive whiteboards. These are proving most popular with both students and teachers. One of our Year 4 students stated, "I think these white boards can do just about anything, they are very cool." Federal Government Funding was used to purchase 4 of the 7 whiteboards as well as the purchase and installation of some new play equipment, air conditioning for 5 classrooms, an extra 17 new computers and 2 printers and an extension to our very busy parent car park.

We may not be able to change the world but we can change the world of one child! This was the message given to Edinburgh students as they took on Operation Christmas Child project. This Samaritan's Purse initiative sparked the interest of Edinburgh students who purchased, made, decorated and packed their very special gifts for needy children around the world. "The boxes were not just filled with an array of gifts and sent on their way, they were filled with selflessness, compassion, awareness, kindness and prayers," said teacher, Mrs Jane Smith who organized the drive. A total of 75 boxes were loaded into Mrs Smith's car and carefully delivered to the warehouse ready for posting to a group of very special children.

Service to others: Edinburgh students have a real sense of duty to serve others.. "We believe that we should always help others," said Edinburgh school captain, Matthew Shaw. "We've raised funds for diabetes, cancer research, and the recent Burma disaster." This conviction is carried on through to the Secondary campus where students from Middle School have just completed 'Operation Orphan Fill'. This project saw the students and their families involved in raising over $20,000 and filling a large shipping container for an orphanage in Kenya. Many senior students choose to volunteer a week or two of their school holidays to work on service projects organized by our school chaplain and it's these projects that are later viewed as some of the highlights of their school year. Character...through nurture, learning and service is our school's vision statement and we are proud that our staff and students have a real and practical commitment to this vision.