Principal's Message
TWILIGHT PICNIC
The weather on Friday the 29th November certainly couldn’t dampen the RPS spirit and comradery as we all moved the Twilight Picnic into the Barrbunin and continued to dance, laugh and chat well into the night. Thank you to Kylie Jeffares on behalf of all Ripper Families for organising such a lovely end of year social function. We know many more new families wanted to join us and get to know the community, but please don’t worry, the very first Welcome BBQ and Dance off is not that far away, so save the date Tuesday 25th February from 5:30pm to 8:00pm.
Who would believe that we only have a week and a few days left before we say farewell to what has been an incredible year of transformation, learning and growth for all students. We couldn’t be more proud of our students as they have truly shifted their attitudes, behaviours and relationships to gain the academic and social outcomes desired by our community. On many occasions we receive such lovely feedback from visitors, teachers and community members who make those positive remarks and genuine comments of praise.
YEAR 6 GRADUATION
Whilst we welcome all the new students to Ripponlea, for many families and students in Year 6 this is a highly emotional time as their significant years at Ripponlea are coming to an end.
This year we farewell an incredible group of young individuals who have truly led the school and have been such great models. They have been a very close cohort, forming strong connections with each other; over the last few years whilst for others, since they first arrived in Prep.
Their teachers are also very emotional during this time as they have watched these young individuals blossom and now are more than ready to transition into their secondary schools, not only with extended curriculum knowledge but as empathetic, creative and caring human beings who have been raised by our community as their village.
This is a time that we realise that leaving us will be some long time families of the school, with their youngest child graduating. These families have not only supported their children but the whole school on so many levels. On Wednesday night - 18th December at the Year 6 Graduation we shall all reminisce and celebrate a significant milestone in the lives of our Year 6 students and their families.
STAFF AT RIPPONLEA
Our staff are an incredibly committed, enthusiastic group of professionals who, on a daily basis, encourage students to develop a love of learning and a desire to succeed. They maintain the highest level of integrity and concern for our children’s wellbeing and we thank them deeply for working in partnership with our families and enabling the success of each and every child throughout the school.
At this time of the year, we all anticipate that changes are likely to occur in our staffing structures, as unlike any other career, teaching provides more flexibility than most. With this in mind, we would like to update our community on a number of staffing changes.
Ms Kate Ashforth will not be returning in 2020. Kate’s health and vibrancy has been restored and she has thoroughly enjoyed having time with her son in his final year of primary school. Kate has enjoyed the flexibility of part time work and plans to return to Thailand some time in the near future.
We congratulate Ms Elyssa Agnoletti who has secured an ongoing position at Bell Street Primary. Living in the local area and avoiding the daily traffic has alleviated so much stress and pressure on Elyssa and her partner. Ms Agnoletti will be significantly remembered by all of our students for her engaging Italian classes, her warmth and creative flair. Elyssa has forged very strong friendships and links to our community and we are sure she will be back to visit us on special celebrations.
Ms Hayley Howard will be deeply missed by the students and families of 1/2A. We thank her for stepping in on such short notice and supporting our students in their final semester of 2019. Unfortunately, Ms Hayley lives in Geelong and somehow we are very doubtful that working in Melbourne and travelling is ever going to be a reality. We congratulate Hayley on successfully being appointed to the position of classroom teacher at Armstrong Creek School and thank her deeply for her commitment to RPS over the last six months.
Ms Luca Dickinson came to us this year from Cornish College. Ms D, as her students refer to her, has been a most welcomed addition to our 1/2 learning community. She has been a wonderful team member, peer and teacher to all students. Ms Luca and her partner have decided to take half a year off work to travel and let their passports carry them to exotic and exciting locations across the world. To avoid a disruptive year for students next year in Year 1/2, Ms Luca will not be taking a class. She will remain at Ripponlea as casual relief teacher until she departs for her holidays later in 2020.
We farewell (but hopefully not forever) the ever talented Ms Abi Wright. Ms Abi has been a wonderful addition to our specialist team and has added such skills and expertise to the teaching of the Drama and Music programs at RPS. It’s not too long now that those beautiful singing tones and melodies will be swaying her own baby into peaceful sleep, hopefully well into long nights for all.
Suspense is probably building in the community and so let us introduce to you some wonderful educators joining us in 2020. After such a rigorous recruitment process what impressed us most was how aligned these educators are to our school’s vision and values and the calibre of their skills, passion and expertise.
We welcome Ms Lucy Feben, a local teacher who comes to us from Ashburton Primary School. Over the last few years Lucy has taught Foundation and most recently Year 1. She has been a SWPBS team member and knows all about our philosophies on student wellbeing. All students will have a chance to meet Ms Feben at our whole school final stepping up session. Today the whole 1/2 team of 2020 have already met and commenced planning for the 2020 school year.
Joining the 1/2 team will also be Mr David Bremner. David has been working in a number of schools in the local area and is currently a TeamKids (OSHC) Director of Service. David has already started working with students in 1/2C & 1/2D. You might have seen his friendly face around the school already.
The 1/2 team keeps growing as we move to an additional class. With this in mind we have successfully appointed Ms Jane De Lorenzo. Jane currently lives in Ballarat and works at Mount Pleasant Primary. Jane is relocating to Melbourne in January and is excited to be joining our school community. Jane has been teaching for a number of years and is currently the school's Acting Learning Specialist in literacy. Having spent the last two years in a leadership role outside of the classroom, she is very keen to go back into the classroom to make connections with students and families, and now will have the ability to apply all of her recent learnings.
Although not a new staff member next year, we would like to congratulate Mrs Julie Nield for successfully being appointed as our substantive Learning Specialist.
Learning Specialists are highly skilled classroom practitioners who continue to spend the majority of their time in the classroom delivering high-quality teaching and learning and have a range of responsibilities related to their expertise, including teaching demonstration lessons, observing and providing feedback to other teachers and facilitating school-based professional learning.
Learning Specialists are expected to have deep knowledge and expertise in high quality teaching and learning in delivering improved achievement, engagement and wellbeing for students. The role of the Learning Specialist will be to model excellence in teaching and learning through demonstration lessons, and mentoring and coaching teachers in improving the skill, knowledge and effectiveness of the teaching workforce. The Learning Specialist role is aimed at building excellence in teaching and learning within the Teaching Service.
Julie now joins the school's leadership team alongside - Vicki Smith, Alicia Oliver–Cook, Braden Leech and Lucy Clover.
With the introduction of a 5th class in 1/2, we are increasing an additional staff member at the school on a part time basis. Ms Lydia Ionnidis has been a regular casual relief teacher at the school over the course of the year. Many families would know that when our teachers have taken planned leave, Lydia has been able to come in and cover the class to provide stability and care for all students. Ms Lydia works extremely well with all staff and students and will work at Ripponlea two days a week next year.
CHOIR PERFORMANCE
Congratulations to our choir who performed at Graceland Manor last Friday 6th December. The senior residents were overjoyed by the Christmas Carols and the delightful tones of our students. Thank you to Ms Abi and parent volunteers for walking the students safely to the venue.
STUDENT LEADERSHIP
Leadership is about the art of motivating, influencing and supporting people so that they work together to achieve the goals of a team. It’s important for all students to experience leadership opportunities during their schooling, to learn the art of building relationships within teams, defining identities and achieving tasks effectively. It also provides an opportunity to learn to identify and display effective communication and interpersonal skills.
Leadership begins with identifying and understanding our school values. Our values are our fundamental beliefs – those principles we consider to be worthwhile and desirable. At Ripponlea, we believe all members of our community should be capable of exercising leadership in different contexts. The more leadership is encouraged, the more it flourishes.
Our students have applied for a number of leadership opportunities across the school for 2020. These roles include membership on Student Council, House Captains and School Captains. The RPS student leadership model was redeveloped in 2019 with greater student input and increased roles within the whole student leadership team. After listening to feedback provided by our current school leaders we have decided that in 2020 there will be no vice captaincy positions in either school captain or house captain roles. Please read Ms Jo Ritson’s report for an update on the student leadership election process.
HOUSE MUSIC
Our House Captains are currently preparing their teams (Furneaux, Loch, Carrington & Orrong) for the annual House Music Competition. Captains have prepared a special music compilation whether dance or song and will have a dance off in the Barrbunin on Friday 13th December at 2:00pm.
All parents are welcome to attend!
YEAR 6 – SUMMER FASHION PARADE
Creativity and powerful messaging about our environment was highlighted during our Year 6 Summer Fashion Parade. As one of their special presentations to community, they spent the last term designing clothes made completely out of recyclable objects. The theme was to reuse, recycle and reinvent and the garments were eye catching. Year 5 students provided a narration on the creative pieces and each student completed a catwalk runway. The audience members were mesmerised and the families could not believe what they witnessed. Working with Ms Zoe Keystone throughout the last few weeks, students created amazing works of art out of recycled material proving that everything has a second purpose and can be reused.
Until next week, please look out for our final bulletin ...
Natalie Rose Jess Grey
Principal Assistant Principal