School News

SSA Swimming Championships

We are proud to announce that one of our Grade 6 students has achieved a remarkable milestone by participating in the SSA Swimming Championships. Lachlan's journey this year began with the school swim trials back in February, then progressed through various stages, demonstrating outstanding talent and sportsmanship along the way, to reach this top level of competition. Lachlan has written about his experiences during his time away to share with us below. Please join us in congratulating Lachlan on this impressive accomplishment.

"On Wednesday 24th July I travelled to the Gold Coast to compete in the School Sport Australia Swimming Championships representing Victoria. This year I had 2 of my team mates from my squad from Nunawading join the team which was really exciting. 

Day 1 I had to swim the 100 breaststroke and the boys 12yrs 4 x 50 medley relay.

For my individual events I had to swim heats in the morning and then if I made top 10 ten, the finals were in the afternoon. 

The 100 breaststroke is my favourite event. I went into the finals ranked 1st based on the results from the heats. Then in the finals I had to race one of the boys I have raced previously from Queensland. I knew it was going to be a tough race. I ended up finishing 1st with a personal best time of 1.14.42.

The medley relay was then made up of 4 of us from Victoria who were selected based on each stroke - backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly freestyle, I swam the breaststroke leg and we came 3rd overall for bronze. 

In the afternoon all the competitors from each state then had to participate in an opening ceremony followed by a cultural experience which involved games in the park with all the other swimmers..

Day 2 my events were 200 Individual medley (IM), 100 Freestyle and the 4 x 50 mixed medley relay. The 200IM was a straight final in which I came 6th. The 100 freestyle was heats and then finals and overall I came 6th. I was happy to make the top 10 for both events since these are not my favourite ones.

It is very hard to compete against the boys from Queensland and New South Wales, they are very fast!

The highlight of Day 2 was when I was part of the 12 years old mixed medley team in which I again swam the breaststroke leg in which we won gold!  We also broke the SSA record this year in a time of 2.04.29.

Day 3 was the last day of competition and I had 2 individual races and another 4 x 50 boys 12yrs freestyle relay. I had to race in both the 50 breaststroke and the 50 freestyle events. 

I was ranked 1st from the heats in the 50 breaststroke but the Queensland swimmer managed to beat me and I took home the silver medal. The 50 freestyle race I made the final and came 8th. 

We had one last relay to race in which was the freestyle relay and we narrowly missed out on a bronze by 0.01 seconds. It was disappointing especially for some of my team mates who had not received a medal this year. It would have been nice to give them the opportunity to take home a medal. 

After three days of racing I was extremely tired but very happy with my results. I have been part of TeamVic for 3 years and this has provided me with some great opportunities to help my swimming journey."

Victorian Premiers' Reading Challenge 2024

Time flies when you are having fun – can you believe we are more than halfway through the 2024 Premiers’ Reading Challenge? 

A big congratulations to all the readers who have already completed the Challenge! Don’t stop now; you can read as many books as you like and record them in your Challenge list.

The Children’s Book Council of Australia’s Book Week is fast approaching and will be celebrated from 17-23 August with the theme ‘Reading is Magic’.  At Parkdale Primary we will have one of our favourite dress-up days of the year; on Friday 23th August, when students are encouraged to dress up as one of their favourite book characters.

If you are looking for costume ideas some all-time favourites on the Premiers' Reading Challenge book list are:

• Possum Magic
• Pearl the Magic Unicorn
• Percy Jackson series
• Harry Potter series
• Rainbow Magic series
• Room on the Broom
• Wings of Fire series

Updated PPS Policies

Our school policies are regularly reviewed by our Leadership Team and all PPS policies are aligned with the current requirements of the Department of Education.

We have recently uploaded a new policy to our website: 

Mobile Phone Policy - student use

Click on the name of the policy above and you will be taken to the correct page on our website to view that particular policy.

All our school policies can be found on our website - click HERE for the link to the Policies page.

Before and after school supervision

Parkdale Primary School’s grounds are supervised by school staff from 8.45am until 3.45pm.  Outside of these hours, school staff will not be available to supervise students. 

Parents and carers should not allow their children to attend Parkdale Primary School outside of these hours. Families are encouraged to contact TheirCare on 0436 333 138 or refer to www.theircare.com.au for more information about the before and after school care facilities available to our school community. 

If a student arrives at school before supervision commences at the beginning of the day, the principal or nominee staff member will, as soon as practicable, follow up with the parent/carer to:

• advise of the supervision arrangements before school 
• request that the parent/ carer make alternate arrangements. 

If a student is not collected before supervision finishes at the end of the day, the principal or nominee staff member will consider whether it is appropriate to: 

• attempt to contact the parents/carers
• attempt to contact the emergency contacts  
• place the student in an out of school hours care program 
• contact Victoria Police and/or the Department of Health and Human Services (Child Protection) to arrange for the supervision, care and protection of the student.

100 years - pin badge/Centenary Parkdale Primary School Cookbook

Our commemorative pin badges are still on sale for $5 and our Centenary cookbook for $30. Both items can be ordered via Qkr! (under the 'Centenary Keepsake' tab) and will be issued at the end of each week to the student whose name they have been ordered under. Alternatively you can pop in and buy a badge from the office (card payments only please).