Staff Changes

Every year we farewell staff who move on for a variety of reasons. It is healthy turnover of staff because new blood brings new ideas and experience from other places. I believe about a ten-year commitment (not a strict rule) to a school brings the new and helps the change for good be established. That would mean we would change about 10% of our staff (about 9) each year and that is pretty normal for most schools. However, it is also sad to lose people we have come to know and love. And long-term teachers also bring stability and history to a school.

We acknowledge the contribution each of these people have made to our community whether their tenure has been short or long. Below is a list of the staff that are moving onto other good things at the end of the year, and they go with our blessing.

Name	Role	Reason
Paul Connelly	Head of Learning and Teaching, Primary	Moving into exciting church ministry, we are grateful for the 2 years we had with Paul
Chelsea Edwards	Primary Teacher	Moving to Queensland, sadly we only had her as part of our community for one year
Liz Jones	Secondary Teacher	Moving out of ongoing teaching role, 21 years of faithful caring and supporting students and staff at PVCC
Brie O'Loughlin	Primary Teacher	Not leaving us but taking maternity leave and will be back
Michael Musgrove	Secondary Teacher	Moving out of ongoing teaching role, Michael has touched the lives of so many students in his 32 years at PVCC, it won’t quite be the same without him
Christina Plant	Secondary Teacher	Moving out of ongoing teaching role, 11.5 years of faithful service to PVCC
Michael Symons	Secondary Teacher	Moving to USA with his family, a student at PVCC and then 8 years as a teacher including 2 years as English KLA leader
Christina Symons	Administration	Moving to USA with her family, yes, married to Michael and helped us out in the office for the last six months
Sue Taggert	Administration	Moving onto a great role looking after family, 14 years helping make things work in the college including OHS Officer
Julia Walker	Head of Learning Support	Moving onto more responsibility at Eltham College after 10 years of developing and maintaining an excellent Learning Support program

We have appointed staff to replace most of these roles but there are still a couple of roles that we continue to advertise for. Please pray that God supplies the right people for us.

PK and Primary Colour Explosion

Last Friday, the weather was perfect for our Plenty Kids and Primary Colour Explosion Fun Run after being postponed earlier this term. The students in each year level from 3 year old kinder to Year 6 completed a fun obstacle course in a lap around the oval, while being sprayed with colour powder. Excitement levels were very high and many professed it to be the “best day ever”!

We are very grateful for the help provided by parent volunteers, secondary students and staff to run this event.

Over $6,500 was raised by students who participated in the fundraising which will go toward improving play facilities next year. Thanks to all those that took part. We are hoping fundraising prizes arrive in time to be given out to students before the end of term and will keep you updated.

Senior Senate Visit to St Vincent's Care

On Wednesday the 30th of November, the 2023 senior school senate and leadership members gathered and visited the residents of the St Vincent’s Nursing Home to share the Christmas spirit! We sang several carols, shared the true meaning of Christmas, and engaged in conversations with each of the residents. To conclude our day, our lovely visit was followed by a burger lunch at Grill’d, along with tasty ice cream from Augustus Gelateria! Overall, our visit was extremely rewarding for both the residents and us as a group of students. We had the ability to spread God’s word and spread an act of kindness to our local community, the residents loved our company and are looking forward to more visits from the leadership team in the coming year!

Year 6 Graduation

The Year 6 class of 2022 celebrated their graduation evening on Wednesday. Students, their families and staff gathered for a wonderful service of reflection and thankfulness for their primary years at St John’s in Diamond Creek and joined together for a celebration supper after.

Congratulations to all our Year 6 students and families, and we wish you well as you transition to Secondary school.

Camp Australia

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