Principals' Message 

Hello Parents and Friends,

We are now only one week away from the completion of Term 2 and it has been a wonderful term of learning, fun and excitement.  We have had so many highlights this term and we are so proud of the achievements of all students and staff.  We are looking forward to seeing you at our Parent/Teacher interviews next week to discuss each child’s progress.  Please see the article below about the Semester 1 reports and the changes you will see. 

This is also the last newsletter that Mr Roberts will be a part of as he is taking Long Service Leave for the entirety of Term 3 to travel through central Australia and down the east coast with his family.  Mr Cleary will be acting Principal in Term 3 and Mrs Twyford will remain Assistant Principal. 

We wish you all a very happy and safe final week of Term 2 and school holidays!

Semester 1 Student Reports 

The 2023 Semester 1 Student Reports will be available for viewing and downloading from Compass on Friday afternoon.  While the Term 1 Interim Reports at the end of term one primarily provided information regarding how students settled in to the new school year, the semester two reports provide information to parents about student progress.  In June and December, schools are required to provide written reports providing information about student progress and achievement against the Victorian Curriculum.

This year, the June and December reports have undergone some minor changes.  Of note, each student in years one through six have self-assessed their effort within areas of English and Mathematics.  TPPS places a large emphasis on acknowledging and rewarding student effort.  It is important that students understand that effort in all areas of the curriculum is essential in developing skills and knowledge to maximise improvement.  The effort self-assessment that students have made is shown in the report alongside the judgement of effort the teacher has made. This is a fantastic conversation to have with your child especially when the two judgements are quite different.

As our teachers formally reflected on your child’s achievements during the first 6 months of this year within the Semester 1 reports, it is worth remembering that all students (regardless of year level) are individuals and develop physically, emotionally and academically at different rates. As educators it is our role to provide students with every opportunity to help them achieve their goals and reach their potential. This will vary from child to child, and is why we see our students as individuals, rather than students who we can compare against other students.

School Sport Victoria (SSV) State Team Selection! 

On Tuesday afternoon via a livestream, Macey H from 6K was informed that she has been selected for the Victorian 12 & Under Australian Football Team.  This is a truly amazing achievement as thousands of girls across Victoria trialled for this team.  Macey will now travel to Lavington, NSW in August to compete at the National Carnival.  

Macey is obviously a very talented athlete, and this translates to a number of sports.  In 2022, Macey was also selected to the Victorian 12 & Under Athletics team.  We are so proud of Macey and her achievements.  We wish her the very best as she represents Victoria and TPPS at the National Carnival in August.  Go Macey!

New Uniform Supplier in 2024

Over the last two months, a sub-committee of School Council has been reviewing our school uniform arrangements.  We have not reviewed our school uniform or supplier for over fifteen years, so it was clearly time to do this.  As part of this process, major uniform suppliers from across Victoria presented to the sub-committee about their range of uniforms, quality of material, cost and retail store options.  At the completion of this process, the sub-committee made a recommendation to School Council about the supplier we should use moving forward.  School Council voted and it was decided that our school uniform supplier will now become PSW School wear.  Previously, RHUniforms have provided our uniform. 

Over the next 8 months, we will make contractual agreement with PSW and make a decision about how our uniform will be modernised for future years.  This is quite a long process as we still have a great deal of existing stock and arrangements. 

Important – The current school uniform will remain in place for at least the next 2.5 years. Families should feel confident in purchasing our current uniform from the Uniform Shop. 

Over the coming months we will provide the community with updates about the change to our new uniform supplier and new styles of uniform.   

New Interschool Sports Uniforms! 

We are very excited to present our brand new interschool sports uniforms that our students have just received.  Over the last six months, Mr Van Der Pol has worked closely with designers to produce brand new uniforms for our soccer, football, basketball and netball teams and they look fantastic!  Our Grade 5/6 students have been wearing these uniforms during their winter Interschool sports this term and our Grade 3-6 Hoop Time basketball teams will get to wear them next term when they represent TPPS. 

Our students have loved wearing the new uniforms.  A big thank you to Mr Van Der Pol for his creative flair and hard work to provide our students with such great looking uniforms. 

Please note – these uniforms are supplied by the school for interschool sports and are not purchased by families. 

2022 Annual Report to the School Community 

The 2022 Annual Report to the School Community is now published and can be accessed via the school website or Compass portal. We once again had a highly successful year in 2022 and we were very pleased with our outcomes in all areas of the report. Please click on the link below to access the report:  

http://www.templestoweparkps.vic.edu.au/school-profile/policies 

Enrol Now for Prep 2024! 

If you are a part of the school community and have not yet submitted your child’s enrolment application for Prep 2024, please contact the office to collect an enrolment form.  We ask that you get your enrolment for Prep 2024 in as soon as possible so we can start making plans.

The final date for Prep 2024 enrolment applications is Friday 28 July 2023.

Facilities and Grounds work over the Holidays

As usual, we will be improving our facilities and grounds over the school holidays.  Mr Konakoff and the First Nations Professional Action Learning Team (PALT) successfully applied for a grant through the School-Aboriginal community Partnership Projects to build a yarning circle at our school.  A yarning circle is traditionally used to share Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples' culture and stories in an inclusive, respectful, collaborative way. We will be building the yarning circle next to the Grade 3-6 playground and it will provide a space for our students to communicate with their classes and friends. We will also be building an asphalt path on the slope next to our new seating area on the front oval. This will provide our community a safe path to access the Grade 4 classrooms and the school oval. 

We are extremely excited to announce that a professional street artist will be painting a mural on the wall in front of our canteen.  The Junior School Council spoke to all classes to find out what they wanted included in the mural to illustrate everything that makes TPPS such a great place to learn.  The artist will be working over the school holiday period.  This mural will brighten up the open space and we can't wait to see it on our return to school in Term 3.

Finally, plans are well underway for our brand-new Grade 1-2 playground and we hope to have the project commencing in late Term 3.  These four projects will continue to enhance the outstanding facilities and grounds that we have at the school. 

Principals’ Award 

We have three very special Principals’ Awards to announce this week.  At our assembly last week we presented the Principals’ Award to both Ella V-C and Eden W (Gr 6).  At the recent Templestowe District Cross-country event, Ella and Eden stopped racing to assist another TPPS student that had fallen.  The girls comforted the student and stayed with her until she could get to her feet and continue the race.  This selfless act of care and compassion was reminiscent of the immortalised event of John Landy assisting a fallen Ron Clarke that is etched in Australian sporting history.  We are so proud of Ella and Eden. 

At our assembly this afternoon, we were so pleased to present the Principals’ Award to Abena A-G (Gr 4).  Abena is always friendly, well-mannered and is genuinely motivated to learn. She is a considerate student and displays the RRIPO school values in her interactions with peers and teachers. Abena is extremely proud to be a student here at TPPS, and her gratitude is reflected in her appreciation and excitement of all we do at school, both in and out of the classroom. She always uses kindness in her interactions and genuinely cares about other people feeling happy and positive about themselves. Abena has transitioned into a new school admirably and she is a most deserving recipient of the TPPS Principal’s Award.

Have a fantastic weekend! 

See you in Term 4! (from Mr Roberts) 

Mark Roberts                    Brian Cleary                                        Robyn Twyford 

PRINCIPAL                          ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL                    ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL