Principal's Report

Dear HPS Community,

Wow, what a night!! It was absolutely fantastic to see so many of our families come along and enjoy the Summer Nights & Christmas Lights celebration last night.

As I said in my welcoming address, events like this don't just happen by chance or magic, it is because of the commitment and dedication of a wonderful group of staff, school council members and parent volunteers. 

We had a great team of staff who contributed to the smooth running of the event and we thank them very much.

We also thank the parents who contributed to the bake sale. Your goods were tasty, creative and well received!

We thank the below list of volunteers who helped out on the night.

To all of you, your time and contributions are greatly appreciated. 

Words from our School Council President:

A big thank you to you all for all your help and support with the Summer Nights and Christmas Lights concert last night!  It was such a wonderful night and I couldn't believe the size of the crowd. Everyone had so much fun and so many volunteers pulled together to get everyone fed before the concert started and many of them continued serving people through the concert too.  Amazing support packing up at the end as well.

We are very pleased and grateful for the fundraising amount that was achieved.... $2,200! Well done everyone. The funds will be used to purchase audio visual equipment for the school.

International Day of People with Disability (IDPwD)

On Tuesday 3 December, we marked International Day of People with Disability.

On this day we are encouraged to recognise and celebrate the contributions that 5.5 million Australians living with disability make to our society, including in our schools and workplaces. 

The 2024 IDPwD theme is ‘Amplifying the leadership of persons with disabilities for an inclusive and sustainable future’. The theme reminds us that we all play a part in elevating people with disability: leaders with lived experience of disability can make the world a fairer place for everyone. 

End of year assembly

In the last week of school, there will not be a usual Monday morning assembly. Instead, we will hold a final assembly of the year on Friday 20th December at 9.10am under the COLA. Student of the Week awards and Positive Behaviour Demonstration certificates will be given out at this time.

We will farewell our Year 6 students, who will perform their graduation dance, along with having the recorder ensemble perform a song to wish them well on their secondary school adventure. We will also recognise and farewell departing staff and HPS families.

We hope that you can come and join us.

2025....

Staffing

We are sad to inform you that with end of year comes movement and departures, and we will say farewell to Callum Swanson, Bec Squire, Monique La Valle and Marcus Panozzo who will not be returning to HPS next year. We wish Callum well as he moves to a school closer to his home, Bec and Monique whose contracts conclude after stepping into short term positions, and to Marcus who returns to his previous school after temporarily transferring to us.  

We have a few staff members who are taking 12 months leave including; Carla Daniele, Alexandrea Ferguson, Rochelle Pennefather and Amanda Gagnon. We wish them well for the year ahead.

After conducting a recruitment process we are pleased to welcome teachers Brad Kendall and Taniya Senanayake to Heidelberg PS.

Class Structure and Specialist Programs

Specialists:

Science - Peter Ruff & Fiona Greville

Physical Education (aka Phys Ed or P.E) - Ethan Griffiths & Tahnee Pape

Library - Denise Pilinis

The Arts - Laura Ghiotti & Ewen Soo

Japanese - Ryoko DeCunto & Satoko Kulhmann

Tutor Learning Initiative (TLI) - Sally Morgan

• Please note The Arts will have a performing and musical element next year rather than visual arts. This is due to considerations such as needing to be held in classrooms during the build process and exposing our students to different mediums.

Student Safety

I wish to remind our HPS community of the importance of using the school crossings to ensure safety for our students and community members. Crossing supervisors are there to help our kids get to school and home again safely. Students are asked to dismount from their bikes and scooters and walk them across the road when using a school crossing. Please discuss being respectful, responsible and compassionate to the people who are doing their jobs to keep us all safe.

As the roads around us are busy in the mornings and afternoons, we encourage students to utilise the paths inside school grounds from the front Cape St gate to either the Gate 3 on Darebin St or the gate down past the cottage and into top school area. Using the internal pathway provides additional space and safety away from the cars on the road.

Scholarships to Support Students

Scholarships are available for students who complete Grade 4 to Year 11 in 2024, and for students enrolled in Year 12 in 2024 who plan to do tertiary studies in 2025.

Student scholarships

The Department of Education administers a number of scholarships available to eligible students who are enrolled in Grade 4 to Year 12 in 2024.

Applicants for these scholarships will be evaluated on their:

• participation in school activities
• community involvement
• academic achievement.

Scholarships are either one-off payments or cover the duration of the student’s course or annual study.

Many of these scholarships have specific eligibility criteria, so please refer to individual applications for more information. Applications are now open, and close on Saturday 1 February 2025. For information on how to apply, refer to Student scholarships.

Further 2025 Dates

TERM 2

22 April- Term begins

23 June- Pupil free day

4 July- End term 2.30pm finish

TERM 3

21 July- Term begins

19 September- End term 2.30pm finish

TERM 4

6 October- Term begins

19 December- End year 1.30pm finish

I wish you all a wonderful weekend and a great week ahead!

Naomi Ivers

Principal

Heidelberg Primary School