Principal Team's Report

Introducing Our New School Principal

Congratulations to Ms Renee Cotterell who has officially been appointed as the substantive Principal of Pakenham Springs Primary School.  Having been a trusted member of the school leadership team for many years, we are confident and excited to have Renee leading the continual growth in all the wonderful things here at 'The Springs'.  Renee brings excellence in knowledge of our school's history and learning community culture as well as fresh ideas, initiative, and a focus on improving academic and wellbeing excellence.  

This fortnight at the Springs...

As we head into the final few weeks of term, I would like to give a special shout-out to all of our staff. Term 2 has been a hectic term so far, with camps, swimming programs, professional learning, excursions and incursions taking place, not to mention the everyday teaching and learning programs happening in the school!  Staff are also writing reports this term, which takes up many evening hours to ensure that they are as accurate and informative as possible.  This also means that the assessment load on staff this term is huge!  We've also had to overcome many illnesses and a severe shortage of Casual Relief Teachers this term - this has often meant that teachers have had additional students in their classrooms (often different students each day) and have managed to keep their programs at a high standard for all students.  Our staff are amazing!  Please make sure you give them a 'thank you' here and there to let them know how much they are appreciated.   

School Aerobics Team

Congratulations to both of our Springers aerobics teams on making it through to the National Championships again this year!  All students performed strongly last Sunday at the State Finals and should be extremely proud of the time and effort they've put into perfecting their routines. They have attended the competitions with a positive attitude, a big smile on their faces and have shown respect and sportsmanship at all times.  A massive thank you to coaches Lauren Cameron and Emily Sach for the recesses, lunchtimes and after-school hours they have put in to ensure these students have had the chance to shine.  Last but certainly not least, thank you to the families who have gotten up at crazy times on a Sunday morning to make sure our Springers have been punctual and prepared to give it their all!  Watch out Nationals... the Springers are coming!

Out of Uniform Day

This week we held our termly Out of Uniform Day, with a gold coin donation as the 'fine' for coming to school in casual dress.  At Pakenham Springs, our mission is to ensure students become respectful and informed members of the local and global community and as such, we make a point of donating the proceeds from one of our Out of Uniform days each year to an external charity or organisation.  This encourages students to think about the world beyond PSPS and allows them to show their gratitude to others. This term, our Student Representative Council sought out the views of the students and asked them which charity they thought should receive our donation.  After a lot of discussion, the Royal Children's Hospital was chosen.  The SRC students are very proud that we are able to assist this very worthwhile organisation and we hope that the donation we make ($765.00) can make a difference in the lives of young people, and their families, in our wider community.

Respectful Relationships Education Survey

Thank you to the families who have already filled in the survey sent via Compass last week.  Your voice, thoughts and feedback is valued and will help us deliver this program in a sensitive, factual and appropriate manner.  From the results gathered so far, we can see that there may be concerns about the actual content covered in schools.  Please feel free to read more about this program at https://www.vic.gov.au/respectful-relationships.  As a school, we are committed to ensuring all of our students are respectful and informed members of the local and global community.  We will continue to communicate with families about the content and delivery of this program at PSPS.

We encourage all community members to take the time to fill in this survey and help us make our school as safe, supportive and inclusive as we possibly can. 

Supervision before school

Students are not to arrive at school until 8:30 am on school mornings.  Staff do not begin their workday until this time, and there is insufficient supervision available in the mornings.  Any student arriving before 8:30 am will be asked to sit at the office and wait. We ask for your support in this matter.  Likewise, under no circumstances are students allowed to leave the school grounds in the morning and go across to the shops.  Not only is this incredibly unsafe, with them crossing the busy Heritage BLVD road unsupervised, but a small number of students are also coming back having purchased items inappropriate for the school day.  Please contact OSHClub if you need to organise care and supervision for your child/ren outside of 8:30am-3:30pm.

Enrolment 2024 

It's hard to believe that we're already looking ahead to our 2024 enrolment period!  We ask that any existing family wishing to enrol a younger sibling for 2024 please complete and return the 'Enrolment 2024 Expression of Interest' form which has been distributed. 

Enjoy the fortnight ahead Springers!

The PSPS Leadership Team