Templestowe Park Primary School Newsletter

Principals' Message 

Hello everyone,

 

Welcome to Term 3.  It has been a chilly but very successful start in what promises to be a busy, yet productive term.  Our students have jumped right back into the learning programs and have had a wonderful return to school. 

 

Looking ahead, there are many planned activities that will quite possibly be the highlight of the year for many students. Rehearsals are underway for the 2023 Year 5 and 6 production ‘The Wizard of Oz’, Year 5/6 camp to Sovereign Hill, PFA Disco, House Athletics carnival and many more excursions and incursions. With so many planned events, we urge you to access Compass weekly to help you stay on top of all that is happening and be able to meet all timelines where consent and payment may be required. A good idea is to select a day of the week to be the regular day to check Compass.

A reminder to please take note of Tuesday August 1st as students are not required at school on this day. Teaching staff will be undertaking a Professional Practice Day relating to Protective Behaviours in Schools.  While staff will be onsite all day, students are not to be present for the entire school day.  Team Kids will be operating a program for the day should you wish to use this service.

 

Staffing News

To commence the term, we have been very fortunate to employ a number of short-term teachers to replace some full time teachers who are currently on leave.  We say fortunate because as you may be aware via the media, there is a severe teacher shortage across Victoria at the moment.  This includes short term teacher replacements (covering teachers who may be absent for a variety of reasons for a week or more) and CRTs (casual relief teachers who are usually engaged to cover short term absences such as illness).  In this climate, ensuring students have a teacher every day can be a real challenge and is a very time-consuming task.  With several teachers on leave we are happy to welcome, and in some cases, welcome back the following staff.

 

Carly Paul (1P for the first two weeks and 2 days).  Carly is very well known to TPPS as she previously worked here for several years on a full time basis before ending her tenure at the end of 2022 due to moving away from the local area.  Thank you Carly, we are very appreciative of you returning to help the school out. It is a pleasure to have you back.

 

Clare Tarlinton (2C for the first three weeks). Like Carly, Clare was also a full time teacher at TPPS before working in a sustainability / environmental teaching role at a number of schools (including here) and education centres.  We are lucky to have Clare back with us not only for her time in 2C, but also for when she will become Belinda Cambareri’s replacement from early August until the end of the year working every Monday and Tuesday. Thank you Clare.

 

Shane Collins (3A for the first three weeks).  A very experienced teacher, Shane started working at our school in terms one and two across all year levels before stepping in to 3A.  When Mr. Ahern returns, Shane will move across the hallway and replace Ms. Young for the remainder of the year as she begins maternity leave.  It is our pleasure to welcome you Shane to your role at TPPS for Semester 2.

 

Hayley Boucher (1E for the first four weeks of term). In a case of ‘deja vu’ we welcome Hayley back however in truth, she never really has a chance to leave.  Each time she completes a short term vacancy at TPPS she finds herself stepping into another one.  To Hayley, TPPS must feel like ‘Hotel California’, “you can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave”.  We are very grateful for Hayley’s versatility and willingness to help out anywhere, anytime.  Thank you Hayley, we know we will also be seeing you regularly from now to the end of the school year (and probably even beyond that).

 

Sadia Yasser (Prep U for the three weeks).  Sadia has worked in all year levels at different times at TPPS over the 2022 school year and in term one and two of 2023.  She always enjoys working at TPPS and is currently enjoying being a part of Prep U.  Thank you Sadia, we are lucky to have you too.

 

The other absentee of note, is of course Mr. Roberts who is enjoying his leave to travel with his family.  From afar, we wish him and his family well.

 

At the end of next week, we will farewell Ms. Laura Young while the following week we will farewell Ms. Belinda Cambareri as they both leave TPPS to commence (in Belinda’s case, continue) the exciting journey of parenting.  On behalf of the school community, we would like to thank Belinda and Laura whole heartedly for all of their work at Templestowe Park, not only in 2023, but also the past several years.  Laura and Belinda have both been fantastic staff members, successfully working closely with staff and students and contributing in several other program areas on top of their classroom roles.  Best wishes to Belinda, Laura, their partners and most importantly the two new additions that will shortly arrive in the world.

 

PFA Disco

The PFA have been working hard to organise two school discos for our students on Thursday August 3rd.  From 5pm - 6pm, it’s the time for Prep, Grade 1 and Grade 2 students to carve up the dancefloor in the school hall, while from 6.30pm – 8.00pm it is time for the Grade 3, 4, 5 and 6 students.  To purchase tickets, the links below will take you to CompassTix, with more information from the PFA in this edition of the newsletter.

 

To purchase P-2 tickets: https://compasstix.com/e/ugvs3beqyv 

To purchase 3-6 tickets: https://compasstix.com/e/5186biiu1f 

 

Writing

As you may remember, last semester, our staff undertook professional learning with an educator from the Primary English Teaching Association of Australia (PETAA).  The focus of the session was vocabulary and how student word choice in writing can turn a written piece into something very powerful.  During writing lessons, our teachers and students have been working hard with their Bump It Up writing goals, exploring ways to use rich language to make their writing ‘come alive’.  We are proud to share the following pieces from several students in Grade 1 and Grade 4 for you to see this work in action.  All three pieces began with a stimulus picture from which each student wrote their thoughts.

 

The Lonely Girl by Kiaan M 1P  

The sad, lonely girl softly sat on the smooth rock crying, while black and white birds played and splashed about in the cold blue sea. The clouds were fading to black. It started to rain. The field was wet and the girl got wet. She hated the rain, but she didn’t care. She just sobbed there while the shivering birds swam away.

 

Locked  by Alice S 4FC

My icy breath wavered, as my brittle hands cracked into a different position. Movement was unbearable, the slightest graze of an object would erupt my nerve cells into a spiralling tower of regret and suffering…

THIS. WAS. INHUMAN. Time was ticking. I hastily slithered my bony fingers through the old, rusty steel bars. My eyes flashing around my enclosure, darting from one side to another.

Not a soul set in my sight. My heart pulsed out of my chest. My freedom was close. I could barely imagine…

 

Locked by Aanya J 4FC

Sharp cool air surrounded every atom of the cage. My hands shivered with fright. The urge to escape was undeniable. Brittle bars boxed me in. Moss was growing right before my eyes.  The world span faster than ever. My heart skipped a beat. The sound of keys clacking crippled me to the bone. A rupture of panic struck. Awareness ran through my veins. I was petrified…

 

Term 3 Overviews and Additional Learning Resources 

Term 3 curriculum overviews for all year levels were posted to parents via Compass last Friday. 

Within these overviews you will find what your child is learning in all curriculum areas, the Positive Education focus for the term, homework requirements, Specialist days and teacher contact details. 

All term overviews are permanently kept in the Community Section of Compass (choose School Documentation from the dropdown menu, then School Community Information, then the year level folder that you wish to access).

Additionally, Templestowe Park subscribes to a number of online programs to support the classroom learning program.  Please see these resources below:

 

Positive Education Focus Term 3 – Grit and Hope

As outlined in the recently published Term 3 Overviews, the whole-school focus for Positive Education this term is Grit and Hope. Grit is the perseverance and passion that is needed to achieve long-term goals, whilst Hope is a feeling of optimism or a desire that something will happen. As part of this focus, students will learn about the importance of goal setting, along with setting their own personal goals based around the different areas of the PERMAH model. They will share their own goals and provide suggestions on how others can achieve theirs. Students will be encouraged to think about how to overcome the possible obstacles that may prevent them from achieving their goals, along with where and how to seek help if required. Explicit teaching around Grit and Hope will be undertaken once a week in the classroom and during our RRIPO cross age mentoring sessions.

 

Enrol Now for Prep 2024! 

If you are a part of the school community or know somebody wishing to enrol for Prep in 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.

 

Have a wonderful weekend!

 

Brian Cleary                                                Robyn Twyford 

ACTING PRINCIPAL                                 ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL